Burnt-out vehicle
Photo: Motti Kimchi
Mob hit in Rehovot: One dead, one gravely wounded
Police believe three well-known underworld figures were target of assassination attempt; explosive device in vehicle was remotely detonated, wounding bystander.
A man in his forties was murdered Saturday evening and another man in his fifties was gravely wounded by an explosive device placed under a vehicle in the central Israeli city of Rehovot.
After the explosion, at around 9:30 pm, emergency rescue personnel were called to a street in the neighborhood of Kiryat Moshe. The man in his forties was evacuated in critical condition and a Magen David Adom paramedic team determined his death on the way to the hospital.
The explosion also lightly wounded a third passenger in the vehicle, as well as a female pedestrian in her thirties. Police officials believe the incident was an attempted assassination with a criminal motive.
Destroyed vehicle in Rehovot (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
His associate, in his fifties, was evacuated for further treatment having sustained grave wounds. The bystander, in her thirties, was lightly wounded.
Crime scene in Kiryat Moshe (Photo i24 news)
Police sources said three known figures in the underworld were in the vehicles when the assassins detonated the device remotely. A tremendously loud explosion was heard across the city, and the car disintegrated. The incident was likely motivated by a dispute between mob figures in the city.
A Magen David Adom paramedic who was treating the victims said they found two men lying near the vehicle after the explosion. "One of them, in his forties, was unconscious, unresponsive, and without a pulse. We tried to resuscitate him but were forced to determine his death."
The neighborhood of Kiryat Moshe is considered a center of poverty and violence in Rehovot. In July two teens were stabbed to death during a street fight. A year earlier a man and his son were severely wounded in an assassination attempt, after an explosive device detonated in their vehicle.
