Solved case · 2003
Israel outline center taCredit: YnhockeyCC BY-SA 3.0SourceThe short answer
A suicide bombing at Mike's Place, a bar on the Tel Aviv beachfront, killed three civilians and wounded around 50 on April 30, 2003. Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed joint responsibility, identifying the two attackers as British nationals.
No one's coverage is attached to this file yet.
Know great coverage of this case?
A documentary, a podcast episode, a careful long-form video. Suggest it and an editor will review it before it appears here.
Suggest coverage for Mike's Place suicide bombingOn April 30, 2003, at approximately 12:45 am, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device at the entrance of Mike's Place, a bar located on the Tel Aviv beachfront in Israel. The blast killed three civilians and wounded more than 50 others. Security guard Avi Tabib, who was among the wounded, blocked the bomber from entering the bar, an action credited with preventing further fatalities inside.
The two assailants had entered Israel from Jordan via the Allenby Bridge and had rented a room in a nearby hotel to prepare for the attack. A search of the room by investigators afterward turned up an elastic belt, explosives, and a map of downtown Tel Aviv on which several crowded venues, including Mike's Place, had been marked.
Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades jointly claimed responsibility for the attack. A Hamas spokesman identified the perpetrators as British nationals Asif Muhammad Hanif, 22, of London, and Omar Khan Sharif, 27, of Derby, both of whom were said to be associated with the group Al-Muhajiroun.
Immediately following the first blast, Omar Sharif — who was carrying a second, concealed explosive belt — was reportedly intended to carry out a follow-up attack, but his device failed to detonate. Possibly injured by the first explosion, he discarded the explosive belt, which was later found to have been hidden inside a book and to contain standard explosives, and fled the scene. He then went to the David Intercontinental Hotel, where he struggled with a security guard in an apparent attempt to steal the guard's identification, without success. Sharif's body washed ashore on the Tel Aviv beachfront on May 12, 2003, and was identified on May 19, 2003; forensic examiners concluded he had drowned.
Despite the attack, Mike's Place reopened on Yom Haatzmaut, Israeli Independence Day.
A subsequent point of public discussion involved a visit the two attackers made, five days prior to the bombing, on April 25, to an office of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), where they spoke with a volunteer for about 15 minutes and briefly joined a group of about 20 people commemorating the death of Rachel Corrie. ISM described the men as appearing to be "typical Brits," and a volunteer recalled they had been offered tea during an unscheduled visit on their way to the Corrie memorial.
The bombing and its aftermath, including the impact on the bar and people associated with it, were later documented in the film "Blues by the Beach," directed by Joshua Faudem and produced by Jack Baxter, who was seriously injured during the making of the film.
Asif Muhammad Hanif and Omar Khan Sharif visited an International Solidarity Movement office in the area and briefly joined a group commemorating Rachel Corrie's death.
At approximately 12:45 am, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device at the entrance of Mike's Place in Tel Aviv, killing three people and wounding over 50.
Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades jointly claimed responsibility for the bombing; a Hamas spokesman identified the attackers as Asif Muhammad Hanif and Omar Khan Sharif.
The body of Omar Khan Sharif washed ashore on the Tel Aviv beachfront.
Omar Khan Sharif's body was formally identified; forensic examiners determined he had drowned.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Security guard wounded in the blast who blocked the bomber from entering the bar.[3]
Identified by a Hamas spokesman as one of the two suicide bombers who carried out the attack; died in the bombing.[3]
Identified by Israeli and British authorities as the second attacker whose explosive device failed to detonate at Mike's Place; he died by drowning off Tel Aviv on 12 May 2003, and his body was identified via DNA analysis on 19 May 2003, so he was never prosecuted.[3]
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
Are you family of someone named in this file? Corrections and removal requests from victims’ families are prioritized.
Credit: User:SambachCC BY-SA 2.5SourceSOLVEDListenJaffa Port, Tel Aviv, Israel · 2010s
On March 8, 2016, a 21-year-old Palestinian man from Qalqilya killed American tourist Taylor Force and wounded ten others in a stabbing attack near Jaffa Port in Tel Aviv before being shot dead by police.
Credit: User:SambachCC BY-SA 2.5SourceSOLVEDListenCorner of Herbert Samuel and Yonah Hanavi streets, Tel Aviv beachfront, near the Stage nightclub · 2000s
A Palestinian suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the Stage nightclub on Tel Aviv's beachfront on February 25, 2005, killing five people and injuring more than 50, many of them soldiers gathered for a birthday celebration. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
SOLVEDListenDizengoff Street, Tel Aviv · 1990s
A Hamas suicide bomber detonated a powerful TNT device on a Tel Aviv bus on Dizengoff Street in October 1994, killing 22 people and injuring 50 in what was then the deadliest suicide bombing in Israeli history.
Shanksville, Somerset County, Pennsylvania · 2001
On September 11, 2001, four hijackers affiliated with al-Qaeda took control of United Airlines Flight 93 en route from Newark to San Francisco, intending to crash it into a federal government building in Washington, D.C. After learning by phone of the day's other attacks, passengers and crew fought back, and the aircraft crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all 44 people aboard.
Credit: nrkbetaCC BY-SA 2.0SourceSOLVEDListenOslo and Utøya, Norway · 2011
On 22 July 2011, Anders Behring Breivik detonated a car bomb in Oslo's government quarter, killing 8, then carried out a mass shooting at a Workers' Youth League (AUF) summer camp on the island of Utøya, killing 69. He was convicted in 2012 and sentenced to 21 years of preventive detention, Norway's maximum sentence.
Credit: Oliver MarkCC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenLiaquat National Bagh, Rawalpindi, Pakistan · 2007
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed on 27 December 2007 in Rawalpindi following a shooting and suicide bombing after a political rally, an attack that also killed 23 other people. A UN inquiry found her security had been fatally insufficient and the crime scene mishandled; two police officers were later convicted, five Taliban-linked suspects were acquitted, and Pervez Musharraf was indicted but declared a fugitive before being separately sentenced in absentia on unrelated treason charges.
