HERO'S SACRIFICE. YOUNG ISRAELI SMOTHERS SUICIDE BOMB WITH HIS BODY
BY MATTHEW KALMAN , IN JERUSALEM , RAFAEL D. , FRANKEL IN , NETANYA, ISRAEL , CORKY SIEMASZKO , IN NEW AND YORK / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2005, 12:00 AM
A YOUNG ISRAELI security guard gave up his life to save his countrymen yesterday by throwing himself on a smiling Palestinian suicide bomber - and absorbing the worst of the deadly blast with his body. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack that killed the 26-year-old guard, Haim Amram, and four other people. And last night the Israelis were preparing to launch retaliatory attacks on West Bank terrorist targets.
Survivors said the bomber had dyed blond hair and an evil grin on his face. "The bomber looked at me, smiled and exploded," policeman Shuki Golan told the Maariv newspaper.
An NYPD counterterrorism expert at the scene, who asked not to be identified by name, told the Daily News it was an unusually powerful explosion - even by terrorist standards. It crushed an entrance to the Canyon Ha Shomron mall, sent burned flesh and shrapnel flying 50 yards from the epicenter of the blast and wounded more than 40 people.
But as ghastly as it was, the attack in the coastal city of Netanya would have been far worse had it not been for Amram and pregnant Police Officer Shoshi Attiya, who sounded the alarm after spotting the bomber, Israeli police said. "This was very much a heroic act by the security guard," Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. "If that bomb had gone off inside the mall, it would have been a much greater tragedy.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack and vowed to arrest anyone connected with it. The Israelis said Abbas needed to back his tough talk with action. "The helplessness of the Palestinian Authority shows that they have no real intention to fight the terror organizations," Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said.
It was 11:30 a.m. and Amram was patrolling outside the mall, which was packed with shoppers looking for Chanukah presents. Friends said he was in love, planning to marry his sweetheart this summer, and travel the world. Then a tall man hefting a heavy bag and walking fast suddenly appeared in the mall parking lot. Speaking from the hospital bed where doctors were making sure the blast had not damaged her 4-month-old fetus, Attiya said "a passerby came up to me and told me he had seen someone suspicious.
"I looked over at the suspect and saw him - tall, blond, good-looking, with a big black bag," the 40-year-old officer said. "I saw him cross the road with his hand inside the bag. Attiya said she began yelling, "Stop him!
Another security guard, Tanya Korilov, said Amram heard Attiya and pinned the bomber to a wall.
"The moment he got close to him he exploded," she said from her hospital bed.
The attack was the third on the Netanya mall since 2001, including a July 12 bombing at one of the mall entrances that killed two women. Islamic Jihad identified the bomber as 21-year-old Lutfi Amin Abu Salem, from the West Bank village of Kafr Rai, and released a video of him posing with a grenade launcher and assault rifle. His mother, Amina, said his son was a grade school dropout who was used by the militants. "He is a poor soul," she said. "He doesn't know anything about this.
Last night, hundreds of mourners converged on the Amram home in Netanya to pay their respects. "He wanted to save the world and that's how he was killed," Amram's cousin Lior Golan said. "For sure, he died a hero's death.
csiemaszko@nydailynews.
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No, elis, it's not "funny" at all.