1994: Jewish settler kills 30 at holy site

A Jewish settler has killed up to 30 Palestinians at a mosque in Hebron after opening fire as people gathered for Friday morning prayers.

US-born doctor Baruch Goldstein, 38, burst into the mosque in the Machpela Cave and fired up to 100 bullets at worshippers, according to state TV reports.

Eyewitnesses said Goldstein sprayed people with his automatic Galil rifle, an Israeli-made copy of the Soviet AK47. The shooting spree lasted at least 10 minutes, witnesses added.

The mosque was packed with up to 800 worshippers for prayers in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Goldstein, wearing the uniform of an army reservist, was found dead in the mosque after the shooting stopped.

Initially, police believed that Goldstein had shot himself but in a later statement they said he had been beaten to death with iron bars.

PLO leader Yasser Arafat said in a TV interview: 'What has happened today in the mosque is a real tragedy and will make a very negative backfire on the whole peace process.'

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin telephoned Mr Arafat, describing the attack as a "loathsome, criminal act of murder" and pledging to take "every possible measure to bring about calm".

Mr Rabin said Israel would launch an investigation into the killings.

The floor of the mosque was full of bodies and blood

Mohammad Suleiman Abu Saleh

