Grenade Explodes Near Cafe in Haifa; 25 Hurt

A hand grenade exploded Saturday night near a crowded sidewalk cafe and toy store in downtown Haifa, wounding at least 25 people, including seven members of one family, police and witnesses said.

Fifteen Arabs were detained for questioning after the explosion in the center of this northern port city, police reported.

Hospital officials said that Dan Meir, 8, lost parts of both legs and suffered head injuries, and his 2-year-old brother Yonathan was wounded in the stomach.

The boys’ parents, their 6-year-old sister Keren and grandparents who were visiting from France suffered minor injuries.

Keren told people at the Rothschild Hospital that the boys were pointing at toys they wanted their grandparents to buy them when the explosion took place.

A police source said the blast was caused by a hand grenade that was either thrown or rolled along the sidewalk.

Children Thrown Into Air

“Suddenly, there was an explosion. Small children flew into the air,” said David Taub, 32, an art student who was standing near the cafe.

“People were in shock. We tried to cover their wounds. We took off pieces of our own clothing and ripped tablecloths to tie their wounds,” he said.

Doctors at the Rothschild and Rambam hospitals said four of the victims suffered severe or moderate injuries and the others were slightly wounded.

Police said three Arabs were seized as they ran from the scene and 12 other Arabs also were detained for questioning.

Scores of anxious relatives crowded the waiting room at the Rothschild Hospital.

Bracha Ornan, 48, said she was waiting for her son’s fiancee to be treated. “There was glass everywhere,” she said. “I grabbed her (the fiancee) and ran.” Ornan suffered slight cuts from flying glass.

Infiltrators Killed

The attack increased tension in Haifa, a city where 223,000 Jews and 20,000 Arabs live.

Meanwhile, the army said Saturday that Israeli soldiers thwarted an infiltration attempt on the country’s northern border, killing three guerrillas who were trying to sneak into the country to carry out an attack inside Israel.

An army spokesman said soldiers spotted a guerrilla squad just before midnight Friday in Israel’s self-declared security zone in southern Lebanon. The soldiers opened fire on the three men, killing them, the spokesman said. There were no Israeli casualties, he added.

The guerrillas were armed with guns, explosives and hand grenades, the spokesman said.

“It is likely that it was the intention of the terrorist squad to carry out an attack within Israel,” an army statement said.

In statements issued in Lebanon, George Habash’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said its forces early Saturday launched an attack on a settlement in Israel’s western Galilee, using rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and machine guns.

The Marxist group said the Israeli army brought in reinforcements, including helicopters and warplanes, and a four-hour gun battle ensued. The guerrillas were from the Forces of Martyr Ghassan Kanafani, named for a Palestinian author assassinated in Beirut in 1972, the guerrillas said.

An Israel army spokesman denied that any such attack took place.

West Bank, Gaza Clashes

In the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, stone-throwing Palestinians fought sporadically with soldiers who opened fire with tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition, Palestinian sources said. The sources said at least five people were wounded.

“It has been much quieter than in the last few days, but the resistance still goes on,” said a U.N. relief worker in the Gaza Strip, where rioting led the army to clamp on a three-day curfew that was partially lifted early Thursday.

Massoud Saleem, 22, died in an Israeli hospital Saturday of wounds suffered in an earlier clash with Israeli soldiers, Arab sources said. Saleem and two other Palestinians from the northern West Bank village of Tammun were wounded by soldiers after stone-throwing incidents, they said.