TUNIS (Reuters) - A truck exploded near a Jewish shrine in the southern Tunisian island of Djerba on Thursday, killing at least five people and wounding 20, witnesses said.
A government source said the blast was an accident but witnesses suspected it could be an attack on a symbol of the Jewish community in the North African country amid Arab anger at the Israeli offensive against Palestinians in the West Bank.
UPDATE 1 - Truck blast near Jewish shrine kills 5 in Tunisia | |
(Adds background on Tunisia's Jews) TUNIS, April 11 (Reuters) - A truck exploded near an ancient Jewish shrine on the southern Tunisian island of Djerba on Thursday, killing at least five people and wounding 20, witnesses said. A government source said the blast near El Ghriba synagogue was an accident, but witnesses suspected it may have been prompted by Arab anger at Israel's offensive against Palestinian militants in the West Bank. Tunisia's Jewish community, its history rooted in antiquity, once numbered in the tens of thousands but has dwindled in recent years to some 3,000 people. Jews have had rights equal to the Muslim majority in the North African country from the time it was a French protectorate. Authorities of the independent state established in 1956 promised to uphold these rights. An annual spring pilgrimage draws thousands of Jews to El Ghriba each year from abroad, notwithstanding the state of relations between Arabs and Jews. According to legend, the festival was begun to celebrate Jewish victory over suffering. Jewish sites in France have also come under attack in recent weeks in violence linked to the Middle East, where the Israeli army launched new West Bank raids on Thursday despite U.S. pressure to end its offensive ahead of a peace mission by Secretary of State Colin Powell. ((Tunis newsroom, +216-71 787538 fax +216-71 787454, tunis.newsroom@reuters.com) 11 APR 2002 11:58:19 UPDATE 1-Truck blast near Jewish shrine kills 5 in Tunisia