Wednesday, May 14, 2008
[Updated with video and pictures below. Moved post to top.]
At least 14 people were wounded Wednesday evening, including a mother and her three-year-old daughter, when a Grad rocket fired from Gaza hit the Hutzot Shopping Center in Ashkelon.
The rocket ripped through the roof of the mall, causing a large chunk of the roof to collapse in a huge pile of rubble and twisted metal. Four windows were blown out of the side of the building. The floor of the building, which bore the brunt of the attack, is where offices and clinics are located.
A hospital official said a woman and her young daughter were seriously wounded, along with another child. Another woman was seriously wounded, and several other people were slightly wounded, said the official, Leah Malul of Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.
MDA said 14 people were wounded - three seriously, two moderately and nine slightly, adding that all the casualties had been evacuated from the site of the attack, including four people who were briefly trapped under the rubble.
Witnesses said an early warning siren meant to give a few seconds for people to take cover did not sound before the rocket slammed into the mall.
Two terror groups, the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Israel believes Islamic Jihad is getting the Grads from Iran. "It's part of the Iranian war against Israel," former deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh told Israel Radio.
The attack came as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and US President George W. Bush concluded their meeting in Jerusalem...
I have heard it was the medical clinics on the top floor of the mall that were struck. Video:
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Olmert said "this in unacceptable." So...
Time to fight Islamofascism with Hellfire (missles).