Incident Summary:
12/09/2001: Twenty-eight people were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb strapped to his chest at a bus stop in Haifa, Northern district, Israel. The bomb did not detonate correctly, and when the bomber attempted to detonate a second bomb in a bag he carried, he was shot and killed by police and soldiers in the vicinity. No one was seriously wounded or killed due to the bomb's malfunction. The bomber, Nimr Abu Sayfien, left a suicide note at his home in Yamoun claiming the attack was a response to the killing of Mahmoud Abu Hanoud, a Hamas leader, by Israel. No group claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Overview
GTD ID:
200109120003
When:
2001-12-09
Country:
Israel
Region:
Middle East & North Africa
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Haifa
City:
Near Haifa
Location Details:
At Checkpoint Junction in Haifa's northern area
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Bombing/Explosion |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Military |
Name of Entity |
Israeli military |
Specific Description |
Troops returning at the bus stop |
Nationality of Target |
Israel |
Target Type: Police |
Name of Entity |
Haifa police officers |
Specific Description |
Police officers in the vicinity of the explosion |
Nationality of Target |
Israel |
Target Type: Transportation |
Name of Entity |
A bus stop in Haifa |
Specific Description |
A bus stop and passengers at Checkpoint Junction |
Nationality of Target |
Israel |
Additional Information
Hostages |
No |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
Unknown |
Extent of Property Damage |
Unknown |
Value of Property Damage |
Unknown |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Explosives |
Suicide (carried bodily by human being) |
Weapon Details |
Sayfien wore a belt of explosives and carried a bag containing a bigger bomb. Authorities believed the bigger bomb might have contained chemicals such as rat poison, making it a crude chemical weapon. |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | Yes |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Additional Information |
One of the sources says that at least forty people were wounded, but the most recent source listed the number of wounded as twenty-eight. |
Who
Perpetrator Group Information
Group Name |
Claimed Responsibility |
Palestinian Extremists (suspected) |
Yes (Confirmed: Unknown; Mode: Letter) |
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
1 |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
0 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
1 Fatalities / 28 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
1 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
1 |
Total Number of Injured |
28 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
David Rudge, "Bomber wounds 40 near Haifa," Jerusalem Post, December 10, 2001. |
David Ratner, "29 injured in botched Haifa suicide bombing," Canadian Jewish News, December 13, 2001. |
Daniel McGrory and Christopher Walker, "Suicide bomber 'was planning chemical attack,'" The Times (London), December 10, 2001. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties