Plant Blast Spooks Scud-Scared Israelis

NOF YAM, Israel â€”  For wary neighborhood residents, the blast in an ammunitions bunker Thursday that killed two people and injured 40 evoked memories of the Persian Gulf War.

“There was a terrifying explosion, and the worst of all was not knowing what it was,� Meira Nomberg, who lives near the Israel Military Industries plant, told Army Radio.

“At first we thought it was Scuds. And at the same moment we heard planes, so we thought it was bombing from planes. Then the whole house collapsed on us.�

The explosion brought demands to move the munitions factory to a less populous area.

Fire Commissioner Shlomo Cohen said authorities were investigating whether the cause was negligence or sabotage.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who is also defense minister, said the explosion “did not occur in the course of work,� contradicting reports that an experiment at the factory could have been at fault.

The blast shook homes, and windows shattered dozens of miles from the factory, located in Herzliyya’s Nof Yam neighborhood about nine miles north of Tel Aviv.

Alex Jupiter, a neighborhood resident, said that when he heard the explosion he started to yell, “A missile strike; Saddam Hussein launched missiles!�

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein aimed 39 missiles at the Jewish state during the Gulf War.

Hours after the blast, Nof Yam resident Dorit Kospika’s hands still shook, and her 6-year-old son clung to her.

“It was like the war . . . the house shaking, windows shattering, walls cracking. My older son fell out of bed, and glass broke all over him. It was frightening,� Kospika said.

Hospital officials told Army Radio they treated 40 injuries, few serious. The two dead, both workers from the factory, were identified as Gershon Matzliah, 28, and Moshe Raz, 41.