A sanitation worker from the Jerusalem Municipality lost his hand on Sunday when
a garbage bag he was lifting exploded, in what police believe was the first
terrorist attack in the capital in more than a year.
The garbage bag was on a traffic island in the
middle of Derech Hebron, next to the Mar Elias Monastery, in south Jerusalem,
almost in the Gilo neighborhood. Another sanitation worker who was working
alongside the first victim was lightly injured by the explosion. Magen David
Adom paramedics evacuated both men to Hadassah University Medical Center in Ein
Kerem.
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placed in the garbage bag. Initial investigations determined the attack was
nationally, rather than criminally, motivated, based on the type of bombs,
police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
No group has claimed
responsibility for the attack, Rosenfeld added.
“We are looking to find
who exactly planted the bomb and why at that specific location,” he
said.
Sappers were on the scene to search for additional
explosives.
Traffic was rerouted from Derech Hebron, a major thoroughfare
to Jerusalem from Gush Etzion, for two hours during Sunday morning’s rush
hour.
This is the second time tragedy has struck the Jerusalem
Municipality sanitation department in less than a week. Last Tuesday, Salodi
Nidal, 38 and a father of four, died when a garbage container that was being
lifted fell on him, killing him instantly.
In the wake of the accident,
the municipality vowed to review safety precautions with all of the city’s
maintenance workers involved in sanitation, logistics and pest
control.
The city has also started an investigation into the accident.