From Occupied Palestine

IDF unit struck hard by Tel Aviv bomber
STAFF
Jerusalem Post.com, 26 February 2005 [updated 18:58]

Friday night's suicide bombing in Tel Aviv struck an IDF combat unit especially hard. The unit was all invited to celebrate a party for one of its soldiers, and stood at the entrance to the 'Stage' club when the bomber detonated his bomb-belt.

The platoon commander, Eran Cohen, told Army Radio, "There were 13 of us there. All the fatalities are from our unit. Many more were wounded."

Eran called the unit's soldiers, "The best of the best. Israel's elite."

"In the past five years of this war, we have carried out virtually every single mission in the territories and underwent nearly every kind of attempted attack. In five years, none of our troops were wounded. It's ironic that we were hit so hard in one explosion on a Friday night in Tel Aviv, just before a party," Eran said.

see also:
DAVID RUDGE and TOVAH LAZAROFF. "Death finds IDF unit off the battlefield". Jerusalem Post, 27 February 2005, pg. 01