APTN pictures of bomb attacks on buses

(31 Aug 2004) Beersheba 1. Various shots of burned out bus 2. Emergency workers at scene, pan to damaged bus 3. Wide of second damaged bus 4. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Dudi Cohen, Israeli police: "We have a number of people killed but for now I will not give exact numbers. Around 80 people have been injured who have suffered various levels of injury. Regarding your question about an alert we received, you should know that in all of Israel, in all the counties, we have general alerts and we had no specific information about Beersheba and the southern counties." 5. Ambulance leaving scene Gaza 6. Set up shot 7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman: "This operation comes within the framework of the continuous Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation and aggression, and in line with and facing the continuous Zionist aggressions and crimes against our people. The Israeli enemy should have known well that intrusions, aggressions, killings and demolitions against our people shall not pass on peacefully, and the moment of reply will come. It should have known at the time of assassinating Palestinian leaderships like Sheikh Ahmad Yasin and Abdel Aziz Al-Rantisi, that the moment of reply will come. And I think it had come." Ramallah 8. SOUNDBITE (English) Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian spokesperson "I think it is quite regrettable that these attacks are ongoing and it is also time to stop the tragic loss of life on both sides. The fact that occupation is still ongoing, the fact that Palestinians are not being given any way out, that there is increased and escalated violence by the Israeli occupation: all this leads to further escalation and violence. It is time that the violence stops on both sides, that the occupation is dealt with as the cause of all violence and that we create hope and that we create a different atmosphere and different discourse in order to avoid resorting to violence." 9. People departing building STORYLINE Palestinian suicide bombers blew up two buses almost simultaneously in southern Israel on Tuesday, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 80 others, police said. The blast was the first suicide bombing inside Israel in nearly six months and raised the likelihood of a harsh Israeli response. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon planned to meet with top security officials later Tuesday, his office said. The militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks in Beersheba, the largest city in southern Israel and just 10 miles (15 kilometres) from the West Bank. Hamas issued a leaflet in Hebron - the closest Palestinian city to Beersheba - saying it was avenging the assassinations of two of its leaders last spring. The blasts came hours after Sharon presented to his Likud party the most detailed timetable yet for Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and warned party rebels the plan "will be implemented, period." After the attacks, Sharon said "the fight against terror will continue full strength." Aides said he would push forward with the pullout. Rescue workers scoured the scene, cleaning up body parts and scattered pieces of the wreckage as dozens of onlookers gathered nearby. A hand with a ring lay on the ground, and blood was splattered on the walls of the mangled buses. The two buses blew up about 100 yards (meters) apart near a busy intersection in the centre of Beersheba. Police said the messy scene was complicating the recovery of bodies and warned the death toll could rise, and they did not know whether the suicide bombers were among the 15 recovered bodies. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...