The 2004 Ashdod Port bombings were two

suicide bombing A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

s carried out nearly simultaneously on March 14, 2004 at the

Port of Ashdod The Port of Ashdod () is one of Israel's three main cargo ports. The port is located in Ashdod, about 40 kilometers south of Tel Aviv, adjoining the mouth of the Lachish River. Its establishment significantly enhanced the country's port capacity ...

Ashdod Ashdod (, ; , , or ; Philistine language, Philistine: , romanized: *''ʾašdūd'') is the List of Israeli cities, sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District (Israel), Southern District, it lies on the Mediterranean ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. As a result, 10 civilians were killed and 16 were injured.

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

and

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

claimed joint responsibility for the attack.

The attack

File:הפיגוע בנמל אשדוד.jpg, alt= File:PikiWiki Israel 32266 Memorial to the victims of the terror attack in As.jpg, alt= File:PikiWiki Israel 5385 memorial to terorist victims in ashdod port.jpg, alt= On Sunday, March 14, 2004, two

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

suicide bombers who wore explosive belts hidden underneath their clothes approached the

. Despite the vast security arrangements at the compound, the two suicide bombers managed to infiltrate the compound. At 16:20 pm the suicide bombers detonated their explosive devices - one exploded himself in an office building inside the compound, and the other exploded after a few moments at the entrance to the compound. The force of the blast killed ten civilians, most of them were port workers, and injured 16 others.

The perpetrators and Israeli response

and

claimed joint responsibility for the attack and stated that the attack was carried out by two 18-year-olds from the

Jabalya Jabalia, also spelled Jabalya (), is a city in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, located north of Gaza City, in the North Gaza Governorate of the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Jabalia had a population of 172,7 ...

refugee

camp Camp may refer to: Areas of confinement, imprisonment, or for execution * Concentration camp, an internment camp for political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or minority ethnic groups * Extermination ...

in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

. The two assailants managed to infiltrate Israel from Gaza by hiding in a container that went through the

Karni Crossing The Karni Crossing (, ) was a cargo terminal on the Israel-Gaza Strip barrier located in the north-eastern end of the Gaza Strip that existed between 1994 and 2011 and used for the export and import of goods from/to the Gaza Strip. This was do ...

. A Hamas leader in Gaza stated that the original plan was that the suicide bombers would blow up fuel tanks at the port; Israel said the bombers intended to carry out a "mega attack" with hundreds of casualties, but instead blew themselves up hundreds of meters from the tanks. Later on it was revealed that the attack was financed and directed by

Nizar Rayan Nizar Rayan (, , also transliterated Rayyan; 6 March 1959 – 1 January 2009) was a high-ranking Hamas leader who served as a liaison between the Palestinian organization's political leadership and its military wing. Also a professor of Isl ...

. In response, Hamas founder

Ahmed Yassin Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin (; June 1936 – 22 March 2004) was a Palestinian politician and imam who founded Hamas, an Islamist political and military organization. He also served as the first chairman of the Hamas Shura Council and ...

was

killed Killing, Killings, or The Killing may refer to: Types of killing *-cide, a suffix that refers to types of killing (see List of types of killing), such as: ** Homicide, one human killing another *** Murder, unlawful killing of another human without ...

along with his bodyguards and several bystanders (eleven people in total) by hellfire missiles fired at his wheelchair from Israeli helicopters in

Gaza City Gaza City, also called Gaza, is a city in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Gaza Governorate. Located on the Mediterranean coast, southwest of Jerusalem, it was home to Port of Gaza, Palestine's only port. With a population of ...

References

External links

Suicide blasts kill 11 Israelis
- published on

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

on March 14, 2004
Bomb fiends kill 11 - Israel cancels this week's summit
- published on

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

on March 15, 2004
Suicide bombers kill 10 at Israeli port
- published on

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

on March 15, 2004
Suicide Bombers Kill 10 in Israel, And Derail Prime Ministers' Talks
- published on

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

on March 15, 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashdod Port bombings, 2004 Mass murder in 2004 Suicide bombings in 2004

2004 Ashdod Port bombings The 2004 Ashdod Port bombings were two suicide bombings carried out nearly simultaneously on March 14, 2004 at the Port of Ashdod in Ashdod, Israel. As a result, 10 civilians were killed and 16 were injured. Hamas and Fatah claimed joint respons ...

Hamas suicide bombings Terrorist incidents in Israel in 2004 Al-Qassam Brigades Operations March 2004 in Asia March 2004 crimes in Asia Islamic terrorist incidents in 2004 Israeli casualties in the Second Intifada Fatah attacks

The attack

The perpetrators and Israeli response

See also

References

External links