Vehicle reportedly belongs to TA club owner; police open investigation into apparently criminal attack.
By YAAKOV LAPPINPolice find body 248 88(photo credit: Police [file])
A nightclub owner in his 30s narrowly escaped injury or death when an explosive device hidden in his vehicle went off in north Tel Aviv on Sunday evening.
Ziv Sha'ayia, owner of a number of clubs in Tel Aviv, entered his vehicle, which was situated in the underground parking lot of his residential apartment early on Sunday evening, and heard a "certain noise."
The sound prompted him to exit the vehicle. An explosion ensued, moderately damaging the car.
"This is a criminally-motivated attack," a Tel Aviv police source told The Jerusalem Post. "We can't say yet whether this was an attempted assassination."
One of the possibilities that will be examined by detectives is that the club owner may have been the victim of an extortion racket. It remains unclear whether the bomb was intended to kill Sha'ayia or scare him into paying money demanded by extorters.
"He has not lodged a complaint with us over threats in previous years," the police source added.
In the hours following the attack, Sha'ayia provided police with a testimony.
The source described the explosion as being of "medium size," adding that other vehicles in the area were also lightly damaged.
Yarkon Police's Inquiry Department has been charged with leading the investigation.
![Police find body 248 88 (photo credit: Police [file])](https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/q_auto/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/14510 "Police find body 248 88")