Eight soldiers and two civilians were lightly injured yesterday afternoon when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire on a crowd outside Tel Aviv's Kirya base.

The shooting attack came two days after a Palestinian woman was apprehended after attempting to place an explosive device inside Tel Aviv's central bus station.

Early Sunday afternoon a Palestinian man driving a Daewoo sedan stopped his car near the Victor Gate of the Kirya military compound on Kaplan Street. The man, later identified as Ali Jilani, a 30-year-old resident of East Jerusalem, opened fire with an M-16 semi-automatic assault rifle on a group of soldiers.

"I heard a burst of gunfire and everyone lay down on the

"[The Palestinians] are bringing attacks to the middle of Tel Aviv." - IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ron Kitri

ground," one eyewitness told ynet. "About twenty shots were fired," said the owner of a nearby kiosk. Dudi Mendelson, 41, of Tel Aviv was stuck in a traffic jam on the busy street when the shooting occurred. "We stopped because of the traffic in front of us, and then the shots started behind us," he said. "I saw a man get out of a black car and start shooting in all directions. I put my head down so as not to get hit," he added.

The Palestinian got back into his car and attempted to flee the scene. A traffic policeman in the vicinity and a soldier opened fire at the terrorist's vehicle and the Palestinian crashed into a utility pole. The man was apprehended in serious condition. Security forces immediately closed off the area and began searching for possible accomplices.

IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ron Kitri commented that the attack had ominous significance. "[The Palestinians] are bringing attacks to the middle of Tel Aviv, the largest Israeli city, very close to the fences of the main military installation," he said.

Alert security guard prevents major terror attack
Iman Gazawi, 23, from Nablus, was arrested on Friday afternoon near the Tel Aviv central bus station in Tel Aviv after the alert vigilance of a security guard prevented her from bringing a bomb into the station.

Rafi Shlomov, a 22-year-old guard from Or Yehuda, was on duty at the station's entrance at the corner of Levinsky and Tzemach David streets. Shlomov noticed a young woman holding a bag and for some reason she raised his suspicions. The woman noticed the guard was observing her, and after dropping the bag, began to flee the area. Shlomov alerted a second guard and a nearby policeman.

As the guards began to clear the area near the suspicious object, Gazawi returned to retrieve the bag. During a chase a passing taxi hit her and the guards were able to apprehend her.

"She told me that I was going to die, but I wasn't afraid," said the second guard, Samir Masri, a Bedouin from northern Israel.

The explosive device contained nearly five kilograms of explosives and was packed with nails and screws to cause maximum casualties. The device was hidden inside a box of laundry detergent inside the bag.

Sappers were called to the scene and the bus station was closed for several hours until the bomb was detonated in a controlled explosion. Under questioning Gazawi told police that her brother-in-law had instructed her to leave the package near a crowded store inside the station and then to flee. "We know where he lives," said the head of the Yiftah police district, Commander Menashe Arbiv, as police began searching for the man.

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