The explosion took place shortly after 9:00 AM on a Tuesday morning, a few minutes before Simchat Torah religious services were to begin.

[5] Police sources said the registration number on the van's chassis revealed it was bought from a Brussels second-hand car dealer.

The licence was taken out by a young dark-haired man who gave his name as Nicola Brazzi and an address which later proved to be that of Brussels hotel.

[1] The Palestinian terrorist group Black September claimed responsibility for the attack, the group which previously staged a number of terrorist attacks, including the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre in which 11 Israeli athletes and a West German policeman were killed, and in which five of the eight guerrillas were killed.

A Palestinian threw a hand grenade at a party of Jewish schoolchildren leaving for a vacation, killing one and wounding 20 others.