EXPLOSION IN ISRAEL - August 8, 2002

A fuel tanker exploded around 3 P.M. Wednesday in Rishon Letzion, near a gas station in the area. The driver of the tanker was lightly injured. Police believe that the source of the explosion was a bomb attached to the tanker.

The tanker left the Pi Glilot national gas depot in the morning, filled with 15,000 liters of fuel, which it delivered in Modi'in and Jerusalem. The explosion occured only after the driver emptied his tank and headed for a garage to get a mechanical problem resolved.

Security forces are investigating the explosion in an effort to determine whether the blast was in fact a terror attack. Nor is it clear where or when the detonator (if there was one, as is highly likely) was attached to the tanker, possibly in Jerusalem, where it was thought that the tanker was still and would be full when the explosion occured.

The tanker explosed on or nearby Shmotkin, on which street the Grace and Truth/CWI offices are located. Police have stated that they believe the explosion was caused by an electronic device that was attached to the body of the tanker. I do not know if the tanker was full of petrol or empty - there are three filling stations in our immediate vicinity.

We are all well.

We never even heard the explosion, although the office was full at the time with staff, helpers and visitors.

Baruch Maoz