Pipe Bomb on Tel Aviv Beach Kills Canada Girl, Wounds 19

A homemade pipe bomb exploded Saturday on a crowded Tel Aviv beach, killing a 17-year-old Canadian tourist and injuring 19 people, including a 9-year-old boy, officials said.

Tel Aviv police spokeswoman Dalia Gilad said 13 Arabs were detained on suspicion of planting the bomb.

After the explosion, Israelis attacked several Arab bathers, stoned Arab-owned cars and beat Arab workers in beachfront hotels. Gilad said seven Israelis were detained by police in connection with the attacks.

She also said additional police were being deployed near the beaches to prevent more attacks on Arabs.

Police said the device was planted in the sand near a lifeguard station. After the early afternoon blast, police searched for other bombs along the Tel Aviv shore, which was packed with sunbathers on the Jewish Sabbath.

Col. Bill Minis, a spokesman for the Canadian Embassy in Tel Aviv, identified the slain girl as Marnie Kimmelman of the suburban Toronto township of Willowdale. He said she died after surgery at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital.

Minis said she was on a tour sponsored by the Canadian Zionist Federation. Three Canadian girls from the same youth group were slightly wounded.

Bianka Ledderman, deputy director of the hospital, said 18 people in all were treated for slight injuries and released.

The 20th victim, a 9-year-old boy, was brought into another Tel Aviv hospital for treatment and was released.

One witness at the beach said there was complete confusion after the explosion.

“Suddenly, I heard an explosion and people flew in all directions, scared, in shock and not knowing what to do,” the owner of a beach snack bar told Israel army radio.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

It was the most serious attack inside Israel since May, when a pipe bomb exploded in a market in Jerusalem, killing a 72-year-old Israeli and wounding nine people. The market had been crammed with shoppers on the eve of a Jewish holiday.

Separately, six Palestinians--including a 13-year-old--were wounded in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the occupied territories Saturday.