Albawaba.com
Damascus - Amman
The military arm of the Islamic Jihad in Palestine claimed in a statement claiming responsibility for the bomb blast Thursday that killed two Israelis in Jerusalem, sources from the movement told Albawaba.com in Damascus.
"The Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Brigades, the military arm of the Islamic Jihad in Palestine, declare their responsibility for the heroic operation carried out this afternoon in the heart of occupied Jerusalem," said the sources.
It added that the “Marty Nabil Araeer Group, which is part of the Martyr Mahmoud Khawaja Brigade,” carried out the operation, which came in revenge of “the enemy’s atrocities against the Palestinian people.”
Earlier, an unknown group calling itself Kataib Al-Aqsa claimed responsibility for the bomb explosion that left two Israelis dead and ten others injured, according to Maariv newspaper in its internet edition Thursday.
One of the dead was the daughter of the Israeli MK Yitshaz Levy from the Mafdal religious party, according to Israeli sources.
“Ayeley Levy, daughter of MK Yitshaz Levy, was one of the victims of today’s blast,” a source told AFP.
The other killed person was a friend of the daughter of Levy, said Israel’s radio report, adding that he was an attorney.
The car bomb blast ripped through the Mahane Yehuda market in west Jerusalem earlier Thursday.
The Israeli army radio reported that the car was stolen, and the police estimate the bomb contained at least ten kilograms of explosives, detonated either by timer or remote, according to the radio.
The remains of the car were towed from the scene, said the radio report, adding that the bomb in the stolen car, a Mazda 323, was packed with nails.
Israel army radio interviewed a Jerusalem city parking inspector who said he gave the car a ticket shortly before it blew up.
The report added that the police was searching for the bomber (or bombers) throughout the city.
The rdio said in a report later that the bombers attempted to drive the car into the center of the souk. Finding their path down a narrow street blocked by a truck, they left the car, which exploded later.
The report said that “with all respect to the police, no chase occurred. It was only the bad parking habits of the truck driver that prevented a major disaster.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli Ynet reported that three of the casualties were children - brothers who were sent by their parents from their home in Gilo settlements to their grandmother's house in the center of the city where they would be safe.
They and the grandmother were injured in her house, said Ynet.
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