Kfar Darom bus attack

Kfar Darom bus attack
Kfar Darom bus attack
	class=notpageimage\| The attack site
Location	Vicinity of Kfar Darom, Gaza Strip
Coordinates	31°24′13″N 34°21′19″E / 31.40361°N 34.35528°E
Date	9 April 1995; 29 years ago ; 11:45 am (GMT+2)
Attack type	Suicide attack
Deaths	7 Israeli soldiers; 1 civilian (+1 attacker)
Injured	52
Perpetrator	Islamic Jihad
Assailant	Khalid Mohammed Khatib

The Kfar Darom bus attack was a 1995 suicide attack on an Israeli bus carrying civilians and soldiers to Kfar Darom, an Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip.^[1] The attack killed seven Israeli soldiers and one American civilian.^[1] The Shaqaqi faction of the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing.^[2] A United States Federal district judge ruled that the Iranian Government had provided financial aid to the group that carried out the attack and were therefore responsible for the murder of the U.S. citizen.^[3] The court ordered the Government of Iran to pay the victim's family $247.5 million in damages.^[3]

The attack

On the morning of 9 April 1995, Khaled Mohammed Khatib, a construction worker from the Nuseirat refugee camp, waited on the main highway running from Ashkelon to the settlements in the Gaza Strip. At 11:45 am, he rammed Egged bus 36 carrying more than 60 Israeli soldiers and civilian passengers to the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom.^[1] At the moment he rammed the bus, he flipped a trigger switch in the steering column, detonating a bomb in his car.^[4] Seven Israeli soldiers and one American civilian (named Alisa Flatow) were killed and 52 passengers were wounded.^[1]

Subsequent attack

Two hours later, Imad Abu Amouna used a suicide car-bomb against an Israeli police-escorted convoy of cars driving towards the Netzarim settlement.^[1] Imad Abu Amouna was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant who had grown tired of waiting for his "martyrdom operation" and instead volunteered with Hamas. Nobody was killed, but thirty soldiers were wounded. The bomb used by Amouna was designed by Yahya Ayyash.^[4]

Lawsuit

The family of the American citizen killed in the attack sued the government of Iran, and in 1998 a Federal district judge ordered the Iranian government to pay $247.5 million in damages to the family.^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Fletcher, Elaine Ruth (10 April 1995). "Terror deals a blow to Mideast peace. U.S. student dies after attack on bus". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
^ Strachman, David J.; Steck, James P. (2008). Cases and Materials on Civil Terrorism Law. Lawyers & Judges Publishing Company. ISBN 9781933264462. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c James Dao. "Judgment for Terrorism Is $248 Million", The New York Times (12 March 1998).
^ ^a ^b Katz, 184

Katz, Samuel (2002). The Hunt for the Engineer. Lyons Press. ISBN 1-58574-749-1.

External links

In Memory of Alisa Flatow

[sfg-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Fletcher, Elaine Ruth (10 April 1995). "Terror deals a blow to Mideast peace. U.S. student dies after attack on bus". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 15 December 2010.

[2] Strachman, David J.; Steck, James P. (2008). Cases and Materials on Civil Terrorism Law. Lawyers & Judges Publishing Company. ISBN 9781933264462. Retrieved 17 December 2014.

[nyt2-3] James Dao. "Judgment for Terrorism Is $248 Million", The New York Times (12 March 1998).

[Katz184-4] Katz, 184

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v t e Prominent Palestinian militancy attacks in the 1990s
Within Israel	Night of the Pitchforks (February 14, 1992) Murder of Helena Rapp (May 24, 1992) Kidnapping and murder of Nissim Toledano (December 13, 1992) Afula bus suicide bombing² (April 6, 1994) Hadera central station suicide bombing (April 13, 1994) Kidnapping and murder of Nachshon Wachsman² (October 14, 1994) Dizengoff Street bus bombing (October 19, 1994) Afula axe attack² (November 30, 1994) Beit Lid massacre (January 22, 1995) Kfar Darom bus attack³ (April 9, 1995) Ramat Gan bus bombing² (July 24, 1995) Jerusalem bus 26 bombing (August 21, 1995) First Jerusalem bus 18 suicide bombing (February 25, 1996) Second Jerusalem bus 18 suicide bombing (March 3, 1996) Dizengoff Center suicide bombing (March 4, 1996) Murder of Yaron and Efrat Ungar (June 9, 1996) Café Apropo bombing (March 21, 1997) Mahane Yehuda Market bombings (July 30, 1997) Ben Yehuda Street Bombing (September 4, 1997)
West Bank	Mehola Junction bombing (April 16, 1993) Kidnapping and murder of Yaron Chen (August 5, 1993)
Gaza Strip	Netzarim Junction bicycle bombing (November 11, 1994)
¹ Attacks launched from Lebanon ² Attacks launched from the West Bank ³ Attacks launched from the Gaza strip 1980s 2000s