Three injured in gangland car bomb near Tel Aviv

Three men believed to be members of a crime syndicate were injured when a car bomb went off on Hapalmah Street in Givatayim, east of Tel Aviv, on Sunday morning.

Two of them were seriously wounded while the third was moderately hurt.

Police officers, firefighters and Magen David Adom crews rushed to the scene.

A special police investigation team is looking into the possibility that the blast resulted from a conflict between two members of the syndicate over a woman.

Another possibility is that the blast was a “work accident” in which the explosive detonated prematurely, the Hebrew-language news site Walla reported. The car, which did not belong to any of the injured men, may have been stolen.

“When we got there, we saw the car parked at the side of the road, completely destroyed,” Magen David Adom paramedic Naama Karamanian said. “Outside the car were three men in their forties, fully conscious, suffering from shock wave and shrapnel injuries. We administered first aid at the scene and rushed them to the hospital for treatment.”

Magen David Adom spokesman Zaki Heller said the men were treated for injuries on their faces and limbs.

The seriously wounded man was taken to the trauma unit at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, where he was to undergo surgery. The others were taken to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.

The deputy police commander of the Dan district, Shlomi Saguy, told Ynet there were no passersby among the injured. “The background of the incident is criminal, and some of those who were wounded are known to us,” he said.