Date August 4, 2002
8:45 am Non-fatal injuries 38 (many soldiers) | Attack type suicide bombing Location Israel | |
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Deaths 6 Israeli civilians and 3 soldiers (+ 1 bomber) Perpetrators Hamas claimed responsibility | ||
The Meron Junction Bus 361 attack was a suicide bombing which occurred on August 4, 2002 on an Egged bus in the Meron junction in northern Israel near Safed. 9 people were killed in the attack and 38 people were injured.
The Palestinian Islamist militant organization Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Attack
On 7:15 am of Thursday, 4 August 2002, Egged bus No. 361 left Haifa towards Safed and was full of soldiers on their way to military bases in north Israel. The suicide bomber boarded the bus near Karmiel.
At around 8:45 am, when the bus stopped at the Meron junction bus station, the suicide bomber, who was at the back of the bus, detonated the explosive device hidden underneath his clothes. The blast, which occurred while about 50 passengers were on the bus, caused heavy damage.
Six Israeli civilians and three soldiers were killed in the explosion and 38 other passengers were injured, nine of them critically.