The Islamic Jihad movement took responsibility yesterday for the attack at Jerusalem's Mahaneh Yehuda market, in which two Israelis were killed. A statement aired by Hezbollah's Al Manar television station declared that "the Jerusalem battalions, Islamic Jihad in Palestine's military wing, take responsibility for the heroic act undertaken in the heart of conquered Jerusalem this afternoon." According to the statement, a car bomb set off by the group's members "caused death or injury to many Zionists." Read out two hours after the terror attack, the Islamic Jihad declaration threatened that the Jerusalem terror strike "is just part of our response to crimes committed by the enemy against our unarmed Palestinian people. "As we've declared in the past, blood shed by our children in the streets of Gaza, the West Bank and the 1948 territories will not be lost in vain," the statement said. "Wait, and there will be more attacks." In a separate declaration, Islamic Jihad called on Palestinians to turn today into an "extraordinary day of rage."

Of all Palestinian extremist groups, Damascus-based Islamic Jihad retains the closest ties with Iran.

(Written by Daniel Sobelman)

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