Police searched for traces of chemical poisons after a suicide bomber blew himself up Sunday morning near a soldiers' hitchhiking post at Haifa's busy Checkpost Junction. Eight Israelis suffered light to moderate injuries in the blast and some twenty others were reported suffering from shock. An alert policeman, who noticed the suspected terrorist and called on him to stop, prevented a much larger tragedy.

"I identified him as a terrorist," said officer Hanan Malka. "He was wearing a coat. I approached him and at a distance of about a meter and a half from him, we looked each other in the eyes." Malka said he pulled out his gun, and at that moment the terrorist detonated his explosive device.

Northern Police Commander Yaakov Borovsky said that the terrorist's original plans were changed when the policemen spotted him. "At that moment, he blew himself up. Not all of the explosive belt he wore blew up, and he lay there dying," Borovsky said. "When he tried to press an additional switch, he was shot to death by police."

The blast occurred shortly after 7:30 a.m. near a bus stop at the busy intersection, where scores of soldiers were waiting for rides in the direction of Nazareth. Dror, an eyewitness, told ynet, "There was a huge explosion. I saw many soldiers running to the station. There was black smoke. My entire car was shaking."

Haifa Mayor Amram Mitzna said, "This time we got through the terror attack with some luck." Fifteen Israelis were killed last Sunday in a suicide bombing on a Haifa bus. "We will continue to maintain our normal lives in this city," Mitzna promised.

Sappers found and detonated an additional explosive device in a controlled explosion at the scene of the attack. Firefighters quickly extinguished a small blaze that started nearby. Borovsky said that there were many policemen stationed at the intersection in fear of an attack, but no specific warnings had been received. Police immediately began searching for additional bombers and for the accomplices who reportedly had driven the terrorist to the junction.

Rat poison used in Jerusalem suicide bombings
Also called to the scene immediately after the blast was a mobile unit of the Environment Ministry, which checked for traces of chemical or biological weapons. According to media reports, the policy of checking for chemical residues after suicide bombings was initiated by police after traces of rat poison were discovered in the December 1 suicide bombings in Jerusalem's downtown pedestrian mall.

Rescue teams working at the scene of the bombing on Jerusalem's Lunz Street complained of a "strange smell," Yediot Aharonot reported. The terrorist apparently included a large amount of simple rat poison in his explosives, but most of it burned up in the blast.

Police sources said that the use of rat poison marked an unsophisticated attempt to include chemicals with the explosives, but added that the combination had no chance of harming bystanders. Even so, new instructions were reportedly issued to security forces, cautioning them from coming into direct contact with bodies and explosives at the scene of suicide bombings.

Police sources have been prepared for years for the possibility of a terrorist bombing combining chemical elements, Maariv reported. Experiments in police laboratories have shown that most easily purchased chemical compounds dissipate in the heat of explosions, without causing any damage.

Even so, a police source warned, "It's only a matter of time. The terror organizations are trying to develop more sophisticated bombs."

Internal Security Minister Uzi Landau blamed the Palestinian Authority for allowing chemical substances to be added to terrorists' arsenals. "It is not important what poisons they use," Landau told Israel Radio. "What is important is the fact that the PA is combining its bombs with rat poison and other weapons. This escalates our struggle against them. We will have to take harsher steps to fight terror," he said.

Ministry of Health Director General Boaz Lev said that hospitals in Israel are prepared to deal with chemical terror attacks. "Our hospitals and Magen David Adom are well aware of this situation, and take every necessary precaution with terrorist attacks," he told Israel Radio. "They have the awareness and the necessary medicines to deal with this, if and when it comes."

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