In Earlier Bid, Killer Targeted Rabin at Bus Bombing Site, Police Official Says

Israeli Police Minister Moshe Shahal said Saturday that Yitzhak Rabin’s confessed assassin, Yigal Amir, had tried to kill the late prime minister at the site of a bus bombing by Hamas militants last July.

Speaking on Israeli radio, Shahal described what would be at least the third past attempt on Rabin’s life by Amir. He said Amir told investigators that he wanted to assassinate Rabin when he visited the site of the explosion that killed six Israelis in Tel Aviv.

“When he heard of the explosion . . . he arrived there and tried to kill the prime minister, but because the police moved the public away he couldn’t do it,” Shahal said. “Because of the distance he was afraid he would miss.”