The Karkur junction bus bombing was a suicide attack on October 21, 2002, at the Karkur junction near Wadi Ara, Israel. The attack, carried out by Islamic Jihad, killed 14 passengers and wounded 50.
Egged commuter bus 841 was on its way on Route No. 65 from Kiryat Shmona to Tel Aviv when it stopped at the Karkur junction, about 8 kilometers from Hadera at the afternoon rush hour. A passenger got on and spoke to driver Chaim Avraham, but before he could answer, a jeep loaded with an estimated 100 kilograms of TNT rammed the back of the bus, causing an explosion. A fire broke out, causing a chain of explosions from the ammunition carried by soldiers who were riding the bus.[1] The explosion ignited the fuel tank, leaving the bus completely gutted. The blaze initially prevented the police and rescue workers from approaching the bus, which was reduced to a blackened skeleton.[2]
7 Israeli soldiers and 7 civilians were killed in the attack and 50 passengers were wounded.[3]
The Palestinian Authority said it condemned the suicide bombing. An Israeli official expressed skepticism, declaring that "The Palestinian Authority has become a prime authority on terror and could not care less about preventing it."[4]