Islamic Iran Terror Murders 3 In Dimona, Israel - Reactor Unharmed

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem ----- February 4, 2008 ....... An Islamic suicide bomber blew himself up in the southern Israel town of Dimona. The terror attack murdered at least three people and wounded forty.

Dimona, is the location of Israel's nuclear reactor. The blast did not occur at the reactor site but rather miles away.

The suicide terror bombing was carried out by two attackers, according to Israel security sources.

"One terrorist succeeded in detonating his explosives. The other terrorist was killed by a police officer from an elite unit seconds before he could detonate himself," a security source told the Israel News Agency. "These terrorists struck at innocent civilians in a poverty struck desert town. They had no chance of getting near the Dimona reactor, not by foot, not by air or any other means. Dimona is one of the most secure places in the world. Islamic terrorists are trying to develop nuclear weapons in Iran for their stated purpose of "wiping Israel off the map." They have not and will not succeed."

The Israel emergency medica service, Magen David Adom had ambulances taking the wounded to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.

"Many believe that the attack on Jewish civilians in Dimona was the result of Iranian spin and public relations to place media focus on Israel's defense rather than Iran's illegal production of nuclear weapons and open declaration to "wipe Israel off the map".

Rosa Elberg, a resident of the town, said that the terror bomber detonated his explosives inside a cafe'.

"It is like a war, people are running like crazy," she told Israel TV Channel 2. "I didn't see anyone suspicious. I heard a boom and my ears are still ringing."

Another eyewitness told Israel Radio that many people were at the commercial center at the time because of the sunny weather.

The Negev Nuclear Research Center is an Israel nuclear installation located in the Negev desert, about twenty kilometers to the south of the city of Dimona.

Construction of the Dimona reactor took place in 1958, with French assistance according to the secret Protocol of Se`vres agreements. The complex was constructed in secret, and outside the International Atomic Energy Agency inspection regime. The purpose of Dimona is for the peaceful production of electricity although many have Dimona to be the manufacturing plant of nuclear weapons. The Israel government refuses to confirm or deny that Dimona has over 200 nuclear weapons at the ready to defend Israel.

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In 1986, Mordechai Vanunu, a former technician at Dimona, revealed to the media some alleged evidence of Israel's nuclear program. Israel agents allegedly abducted Vanunu from Italy and transported him to Israel. An Israel court then tried him in secret on charges of treason and espionage, and sentenced him to eighteen years imprisonment. At the time of Vanunu's arrest, The Times reported that Israel had material for approximately 20 hydrogen bombs and 200 fission bombs.

Shalom Bar Avi, a journalist who spoke to Israel TV Channel 10, stated: "I am here no longer as a journalist but as a simple citizen. I pray and hope my wife is okay."

Bar Avi praised the police's quick response to the attack, and said the officer who identified the second attacker shot "four or five times, he took no chances."

The Jerusalem Brigades of Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, confirming in its statement that the terrorists entered Israel through the Sinai desert, but several minutes later several organizations, including Hamas and Fatah, also claimed responsibility. Palestinian news agency of Maan reported that a spokesman for al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades of Fatah confirmed during a phone interview with Maan that his group was behind the blast

Israel has been on alert against terror attacks since the Hamas terror group in Gaza breached the border with Egypt on January 23. The breach made the Negev, where Dimona is located, more vulnerable to penetration by Palestinian terrorists who could enter through the Sinai.

Egypt security forces yesterday resealed the only remaining gap on the Egypt side of the border fences with barbed wire and metal barricades, ending the nearly two-week-long Gaza border breaches crisis.

"No one can reach the reactor at Dimona, Israel," said an Israel security source. "Not even the Prime Minister or Defense Minister can visit without special security clearance by several domestic security organizations. So Islamic terrorists searched for soft targets as they have in the past - Israel men, women and children. Our security forces were prepared for such an attack and for this reason the second suicide bomber never had a chance of harming more innocent people."

"Monday's terror attack gives us a painful reminder that we must be vigilant and maintain our readiness in all areas," Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said hours after a 20-year-old woman was killed and 38 people were wounded, one critically, in a suicide bombing in the Dimona commercial center.

"We are waging a war on terror. It is continuing without bounds and we will get to everyone involved in terror activity," said Olmert during a Kadima faction meeting.

Many believe that the attack on Jewish civilians in Dimona was the result of Iran spin and public relations to place media focus on Israel's defense rather than Iran's illegal production of nuclear weapons and open declaration to "wipe Israel off the map". Iran accused France yesterday of adopting an “unfriendly” position in Tehran's nuclear arrogance with the West.

The Iran Foreign Ministry summoned the French Ambassador to Tehran, Bernard Poletti, in an apparent tit-for-tat response after Paris called in the Iranian envoy last week over anti-Israel remarks made by its hardline President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

At a time when Iraq and the war on terrorism tend to dominate the debate on international affairs, the possibility of an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities has become a major topic of discussion in the United States. There are reports that the Bush administration is seriously considereding this option.

In Israel, planning appears to have progressed quite a bit further as it appears that some in Israel are seriously considering a preemptive attack similar to the June 1981 attack on Osirak that destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor. Meir Dagan, the Chief of Mossad, told parliament members in his inaugural appearance before the Israel Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Iran was close to the "point of no return" and that the specter of Iran possession of nuclear weapons was the greatest threat to Israel since its inception.

Details on the wounded in the Dimona terror attack who were evacuated to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba can be received by phone at 1255-177.