Suicide Bombs Spread Rat Poison, Disease

Aug. 6 -- Palestinian bomb-makers have apparently found ways to make their attacks more harrowing, even without access to more powerful arms, Israeli officials say.

They say militants have been mixing various forms of rat poison into their bombs, increasing their potential for casualties — and their potential for terror.

In Tel Aviv, the alleged mastermind of the devastating suicide bombing in the seaside resort of Netanya on March 27 is not only on trial for the attack that killed 29 people and injured 140. He is also accused of planning a biochemical attack: prosecutors say he had planned to mix rat poison — in this case, cyanide — into the bomb.

Rat poison was also reportedly used in the June 17 suicide bombing at a bus stop in the annexed Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. Dr. Avi Rivkind of Ein Karem Hadassah Hospital told a number of media outlets that the poison was an anti-coagulant that caused survivors to bleed uncontrollably from their wounds.

And in the July issue of the Israel Medical Association Journal, an Israeli doctor warned that survivors of suicide bombings may risk infection from blood-borne diseases.

After treating the survivors of one recent suicide bombing, Dr. Itzhak Braverman and his staff believe that flying bone fragments from the bomber infected one woman with hepatitis B. The woman was promptly treated.

"To the best of our knowledge this is the first report on human bone fragments acting as foreign bodies in a blast injury," Braverman said in his report.

An Ineffective Weapon?

While it is unclear if the bomber who was infected with hepatitis B was intentionally sent out to cause additional harm, the inclusion of rat poison in bombs would be a sign of malicious intent.

However, the effect of rat poison is apparently more psychological than physical.

Israeli officials allege rat poison was used in the Dec. 1 suicide bombing of the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall in Jerusalem, where 11 people were killed and 188 were injured, but they also said the chemicals had little effect because they were largely consumed by the blast.