One American tourist from New Jersy was killed, another Amercian woman critically injured with shrapnel in the chest...
Jerusalem Suicide Bomber Kills 15
By GREG MYRE
.c The Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP) - A Palestinian suicide bomber detonated a nail-studded explosive inside a crowded Jerusalem pizzeria at lunchtime Thursday, killing 15 people, wounding almost 90 and provoking a wave of Israeli outrage. One of the dead was an American woman.
Islamic Jihad and Hamas, militant Palestinian groups that have been carrying out bomb attacks against Israel for years, both claimed responsibility for the bombing at Sbarro, a New York-based chain.
Most of the dead were Israelis, but they included at least one American, identified by police as Judith Greenbaum of New Jersey, and a Brazilian man, Giora Balash, 60. Their hometowns were not made public.
Hanna Tova Nachemberg, 31, of New York City was critically wounded with shrapnel in her chest, according to Rabbi Avi Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in the Bronx.
As Israelis mourned the dead - including several children - and hospitals struggled to save the critically injured, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faced a major decision on how to respond to the attack, the second deadliest in more than 10 months of fighting.
Sharon has pledged to hit back hard against Palestinian terror attacks, but such a strike could send violence spiraling out of control. The Israeli leader refrained from military action following a suicide attack two months ago that left 22 dead, pressuring Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to declare a cease-fire.
But with the truce in shambles, few were in the mood for restraint.
``We are in a war,'' Jerusalem's Mayor Ehud Olmert said after Thursday's blast. ``We will act together with the government of Israel to reach every one of those who is responsible for terror, to hit them and kill them.''
President Bush condemned the bombing and demanded that Arafat arrest those responsible.
``Palestinian Authority Chairman Arafat must condemn this horrific terrorist attack, act now to arrest and bring to justice those responsible and take immediate, sustained action to prevent future terrorist attacks,'' Bush said.
Dore Gold, an adviser to Sharon, said Arafat had ``completely failed to fulfill the terms of the cease-fire and as a result, we have the disaster that occurred in Jerusalem today.''
Carrying a bomb concealed in a bag, the assailant entered the packed restaurant on the corner of two of Jerusalem's busiest downtown streets, Jaffa and King George, and set off the explosive, spraying shrapnel in a deafening blast.
In a scene of chaos and anguish, the injured lay bleeding in the street, which was covered with shards of glass. Some who were traumatized but unhurt huddled on the street and wept. The restaurant was gutted by the blast - its windows blown out, chairs, tables and other debris littering the sidewalk.