Separate Blasts Kill 5 in Israel, Lebanon
MEHOLA, Israeli-Occupied West Bank — A car bomb explosion in the occupied West Bank killed two Arabs and injured nine people Friday in a restaurant parking lot in this Jewish settlement.
A senior military commander indicated the blast was the work of a suicide bomber, which would be a major escalation in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.
The attack came as a car exploded in south Lebanon, killing three people in what security sources said appeared to be a bungled assassination operation by Israel.
One man and two women were killed in the blast. The women were identified as the wife and daughter of Samir Sweidan, the Lebanese owner of the car and an anti-Israeli guerrilla activist.
In the West Bank attack, the vehicle blew up outside the “Village Inn,” a popular rest stop for motorists traveling between Jerusalem and northern Israel.
The blast killed an Arab man from nearby Bardala village who worked at a snack bar in Mehola. The Israeli commander in the area said the other dead man had been driving the car that exploded, indicating it was a suicide attack.
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