Suicide Bomber Kills Nine On Bus

Egged bus No. 361 left Haifa for Safed at 7:15 Sunday morning August 4, 2002. A suicide bomber, Jihad Hamadeh, boarded the bus setting off his explosive at the Meron junction near Safed just before 9:00. The blast blew the roof off the bus, which then burst into flames. Nine people were killed and 38 injured. Among the dead were three soldiers, four civilians, and two Philippine women.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. IDF troops later captured Hamas commander Mazan Fukha, who the government said was responsible for dispatching the suicide bomber, and two of his deputies in the West Bank town of Tubas.

The dead:

Mordechai Yehuda Friedman, 24, of Ramat Beit Shemesh;

Sari Goldstein, 21, of Karmiel;

Maysoun Amin Hassan, 19, of Sajur;

Marlene Miriam Menahem, 22, of Moshav Safsufa

Sgt.-Maj. Roni Ghanem, 28, of Maghar;

Sgt. Yifat Gavrieli, 19, of Mitzpe Adi;

Sgt. Omri Goldin, 20, of Mitzpe Aviv;

Adelina Kononen, 37, of the Philippines;

Rebecca Roga, 40, of the Philippines.

Source: “August 4, 2002: 13 dead in a day of terror,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Photo: GPO.