Binyamina train station suicide bombing

On 16 July 2001, a suicide bombing occurred near the Binyamina railway station in the town of Binyamina-Giv'at Ada, Israel. The attack killed two people and injured 11 others. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The bomber was identified as 20-year-old Nidal Shaduf, from a village near Jenin. According to available reporting, after infiltrating Israel he entered Binyamina, apparently intending to detonate inside the crowded railway station. It has been theorized that he was unable to enter the station due to a heavy police presence and stringent security measures. As a result, he moved to a nearby soldiers' bus stop and detonated his explosives at 7:35 p.m., after waiting for the stop to begin filling with people. Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed in the blast, and eleven people were injured, two of them seriously.

In the immediate aftermath, Israeli security forces froze all train traffic between Tel Aviv and Haifa. Israeli Police established a dragnet — using patrol cars, special forces units, and helicopters — in an effort to capture a vehicle that had reportedly been seen dropping the bomber off, but the search was unsuccessful. Several Palestinians who were staying illegally in Israel were detained in the area during the operation.

In response to the bombing, the IDF carried out attacks, primarily using tank fire, against Palestinian Authority security installations and positions belonging to the Fatah-linked Force 17. Israeli helicopters also struck a house in Bethlehem belonging to Fatah militants, killing four people.

Both the United States and the Palestinian Authority condemned the attack.

This dossier is based on the available Wikipedia summary of the event. Two contemporaneous news sources — The New York Times and The Guardian — are listed among the case's references as corroborating coverage from July 2001, though their specific text was not available for direct citation of facts in this dossier.