SUNDAY: FEB 22 - 04

BREAKING NEWS: SEVEN DEAD IN GERMAN COLONY BUS BLAST

A Palestinian suicide bomber is believed to have been behind a bus blast on the busy number 14 line in Jerusalem just after 8:30 this morning. At least seven people were killed and 68 injured when the bus exploded as it left the capital’s German Colony neighborhood heading towards the center of town.

Jerusalem Police Chief Mikey Levy said that the blast took place in the middle of the bus as it waited at a traffic light, opposite the Inbal Hotel on Jabotinsky Street across from the Liberty Bell Park.

So far seven people have been reported killed but, according to rescue workers, more than ten more remain in critical condition. This is the second time that this particular bus line has been a target of terrorist attacks.

"These are difficult days, and we are making huge efforts to stop terror attacks," Levy said, but admitted that there had been no specific warnings for this attack, despite tight security in the city over the weekend.

After three months of relative quiet since a massive suicide blast ripped apart Haifa’s jointly Jewish and Arab owned Maxim restaurant in October, the Palestinian terrorist campaign appears to have gathered pace.

On January 29, 11 people were killed, only a few blocks away in the center of Jerusalem when a Palestinian Authority policeman from Bethlehem blew himself up on bus no. 19, the third suicide bombing attack since Christmas.

The attack come on the eve of the opening of the controversial International Court of Justice hearings on the legality of Israel’s extensive security fence, built in response to a three and a half year wave of well over 100 suicide bombings.

Palestinians have argued that the fence will not stop the attacks, and the terror groups appear set on proving the point.

Israeli Foreign Ministry officials argue, however, that the threat to civilians is falling by the week, as more and more sections of the barrier are completed

"This attack in Jerusalem proves without a shadow of a doubt the need for Israel's security fence. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding himself," said David Baker, an official in the Prime Minister’s office on Sunday