Gaza bomb kills 3 Americans
Embassy advises all U.S. citizens to leave Gaza
Wednesday, October 15, 2003 Posted: 7:48 PM EDT (2348 GMT)
GAZA CITY (CNN) -- A roadside bomb went off beneath a convoy carrying U.S. diplomats Wednesday in Gaza, killing three American members of a security detail and injuring another, U.S. officials said.
President Bush blamed Palestinian officials, saying they "should have acted long ago to fight terror in all its forms."
Bush repeated calls to give a Palestinian prime minister control of all Palestinian security forces, and he blamed Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat for continuing to block reforms.
Palestinian police started rounding up suspects in a dragnet expected to last through the night, security sources said.
The action followed word that Arafat had reappointed a law and order general, Gazi el-Jabali, to command Palestinian police forces -- a man he had previously fired from the job.
The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer, said the United States was "shocked by this latest terrorist outrage."
The convoy was carrying U.S. Embassy officials to Gaza to interview Palestinian students who have applied for Fulbright scholarships in the United States, Kurtzer said. It was carrying at least 12 Americans, according to Israeli sources.
The four Americans victims were employed by the U.S. Embassy to provide security, Kurtzer said. Two Americans died on the scene, a third died on the way to a hospital, and a fourth was hospitalized, Kurtzer said.
They were employees of Dyncorp, a company that provides security for the United States in Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East, according to a senior Bush administration official.
A team of six FBI agents -- investigators, forensics and explosives experts -- was being sent from Washington to investigate the crime scene.
No one immediately claimed responsibility, and some Palestinian militant groups criticized the bombing, calling it counterproductive in their fight against Israeli occupation.
Two militant groups designated terrorist organizations by the U.S. State Department -- Hamas and Islamic Jihad -- said they had nothing to do with it.
A Hamas statement on its Web site said the group did not wish "to widen the circle of struggle and to take it outside the borders of Palestine."
The Popular Resistance Committees, an umbrella organization for militants, denied "any connection with this incident" but condemned U.S. support for Israel's construction of a barrier in the West Bank to prevent terror attacks.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that "in the absence of information" on who did it, "the assumption one has to make, given the nature of the attack," is that Palestinians targeted Americans.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack and Arafat's Fatah movement urged that all legal steps be taken to preserve the U.S. role in Middle East peacemaking.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei strongly condemned the attack, offered his condolences, and promised an investigation.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat also offered his condolences and condemned the attack.
Several hours after the bombing, the U.S. Embassy issued an advisory calling on U.S. citizens to leave Gaza. Kurtzer said there were several hundred U.S. citizens in Gaza.
A senior State Department official said the convoy had just entered Gaza through the Erez checkpoint and was traveling a route often used by U.S. diplomats.
According to the State Department, a roadside bomb was triggered immediately after the Palestinian police cars in the convoy passed by, hitting the U.S. vehicle.
An Associated Press correspondent at the scene reported seeing a gray wire leading from the bomb crater to a small concrete building nearby.
He said an on/off switch was attached to the wire. Video of the scene showed a crater, about three feet deep and eight feet wide.
Kurtzer said the attack was the second to target U.S. officials in Gaza. He said no one was injured when a U.S. bulletproof vehicle was attacked in June.
Kurtzer said the attack would not change the U.S. commitment to the peace process and the Palestinian Authority had been asked to arrest those responsible.
John Wolf, special U.S. envoy to the Middle East, was not in the country at the time of the attack despite media reports that said he was in the convoy, the embassy said.
Dore Gold, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, also offered condolences, noting that Israelis "understand exactly the kind of grief this terrible, terrible terrorism causes."
"Clearly these attacks are motivated by the same anti-Western, anti-American feelings that unite all these forces in the Middle East," he said.
Gold said "this attack would never have occurred" if the Palestinian Authority had cracked down on terrorist groups.
CNN's Chris Burns and Elise Labott contributed to this report.
Embassy advises all U.S. citizens to leave Gaza
Wednesday, October 15, 2003 Posted: 7:48 PM EDT (2348 GMT)
GAZA CITY (CNN) -- A roadside bomb went off beneath a convoy carrying U.S. diplomats Wednesday in Gaza, killing three American members of a security detail and injuring another, U.S. officials said.
President Bush blamed Palestinian officials, saying they "should have acted long ago to fight terror in all its forms."
Bush repeated calls to give a Palestinian prime minister control of all Palestinian security forces, and he blamed Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat for continuing to block reforms.
Palestinian police started rounding up suspects in a dragnet expected to last through the night, security sources said.
The action followed word that Arafat had reappointed a law and order general, Gazi el-Jabali, to command Palestinian police forces -- a man he had previously fired from the job.
The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer, said the United States was "shocked by this latest terrorist outrage."
The convoy was carrying U.S. Embassy officials to Gaza to interview Palestinian students who have applied for Fulbright scholarships in the United States, Kurtzer said. It was carrying at least 12 Americans, according to Israeli sources.
The four Americans victims were employed by the U.S. Embassy to provide security, Kurtzer said. Two Americans died on the scene, a third died on the way to a hospital, and a fourth was hospitalized, Kurtzer said.
They were employees of Dyncorp, a company that provides security for the United States in Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East, according to a senior Bush administration official.
A team of six FBI agents -- investigators, forensics and explosives experts -- was being sent from Washington to investigate the crime scene.
No one immediately claimed responsibility, and some Palestinian militant groups criticized the bombing, calling it counterproductive in their fight against Israeli occupation.
Two militant groups designated terrorist organizations by the U.S. State Department -- Hamas and Islamic Jihad -- said they had nothing to do with it.
A Hamas statement on its Web site said the group did not wish "to widen the circle of struggle and to take it outside the borders of Palestine."
The Popular Resistance Committees, an umbrella organization for militants, denied "any connection with this incident" but condemned U.S. support for Israel's construction of a barrier in the West Bank to prevent terror attacks.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that "in the absence of information" on who did it, "the assumption one has to make, given the nature of the attack," is that Palestinians targeted Americans.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack and Arafat's Fatah movement urged that all legal steps be taken to preserve the U.S. role in Middle East peacemaking.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei strongly condemned the attack, offered his condolences, and promised an investigation.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat also offered his condolences and condemned the attack.
Several hours after the bombing, the U.S. Embassy issued an advisory calling on U.S. citizens to leave Gaza. Kurtzer said there were several hundred U.S. citizens in Gaza.
A senior State Department official said the convoy had just entered Gaza through the Erez checkpoint and was traveling a route often used by U.S. diplomats.
According to the State Department, a roadside bomb was triggered immediately after the Palestinian police cars in the convoy passed by, hitting the U.S. vehicle.
An Associated Press correspondent at the scene reported seeing a gray wire leading from the bomb crater to a small concrete building nearby.
He said an on/off switch was attached to the wire. Video of the scene showed a crater, about three feet deep and eight feet wide.
Kurtzer said the attack was the second to target U.S. officials in Gaza. He said no one was injured when a U.S. bulletproof vehicle was attacked in June.
Kurtzer said the attack would not change the U.S. commitment to the peace process and the Palestinian Authority had been asked to arrest those responsible.
John Wolf, special U.S. envoy to the Middle East, was not in the country at the time of the attack despite media reports that said he was in the convoy, the embassy said.
Dore Gold, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, also offered condolences, noting that Israelis "understand exactly the kind of grief this terrible, terrible terrorism causes."
"Clearly these attacks are motivated by the same anti-Western, anti-American feelings that unite all these forces in the Middle East," he said.
Gold said "this attack would never have occurred" if the Palestinian Authority had cracked down on terrorist groups.
CNN's Chris Burns and Elise Labott contributed to this report.
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