Blast kills two at Palestinian national security headquarters in Gaza town

Star Tribune
May. 02, 2006

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- An explosion destroyed a building inside a Palestinian national security compound in the northern Gaza Strip on today, killing two police officers and wounding seven others, Palestinian security officials said.

The Israeli army denied any involvement in the explosion. Israel has been firing artillery shells into northern Gaza in recent weeks in response to Palestinian rocket fire.

The cause of the blast, which collapsed a one-floor building inside the compound in the town of Jebaliya, was not immediately known, according to Palestinian security sources.

Mosud Salem, a security officer, said he was leaving the compound "when suddenly a big explosion shook the area and a big cloud of white smoke shot up."

"I heard the sound of screaming. Some of our police were in that section of the building. We don't know what happened, everything happened so quickly. The explosion was so loud and everything collapsed in less than a second," he said.

The blast killed at least two people, and rescue workers, using bulldozers to dig through the rubble, were searching for a third missing person, rescue officials said.