Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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5 killed at bat mitzvah in Israel BY LOUIS MEIXLER ASSOCIATED PRESS JERUSALEM (AP) - A Palestinian gunman walked into a wedding hall in northern Israel ThursdaV and opened fire with an assault rifle, killing five people at a bat mitzvah and injuring 30, Israeli police said. A militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest in more than a month. Police earlier said the attacker threw hand grenades but witness es and subsequent police accounts said the attacker opened fire with an M-16 and was stopped before he could throw a grenade. The attacker had a belt of am munition which police at first feared was a belt of explosives for a suicide attack. "A tall man ran and screamed a few things and started shooting everywhere," said Uriel Gad, who was in the David’s Palace hall where people were celebrating. People in the hall pushed the at tacker outside, where he was shot and killed by police, bringing the death toll to six, said police com missioner Shlomo Aharonishki. The A1 Aqsa Brigades, a militia linked to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah, claimed responsibility in a phone call to The Associated Press. It was the bloodiest attack since Arafat’s Dec. 16 announcement of a cease-fire in months of clashes between Israelis and Palestinians. The group said that Abed Hassouna from a village near the Palestinian town of Nablus ear ned out the attack to avenge the death of Raed Karmi, the militia’s leader in the town of Tulkarem. Karmi was killed in a bomb blast earlier this week that is widely believed to have been car ried out by Israel. The group has vowed to avenge his death. The northern city of Hadera is lo cated near the line separating Israel from the West Bank and has been the scene of several Palestinian bombings in recent months. In a recent attack in Hadera, a Palestinian suicide bomber set off explosives strapped to his body on a bus on a main highway Nov. 29, killing himself and three Israeli passengers. The militant Islamic Jihad group later claimed respon sibility for the blast. STATE Lost nuclear fuel rods could be found in S.C. COLUMBIA (AP) - Officials in South Carolina, where two missing fuel rods from a Connecticut nuclear plant are thought to have been sent by mistake, are considering whether a search would be worth the effort. Officials with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week they think the rods from the Millstone One plant were sent by mistake to low-level nuclear waste sites either in Barnwell, S.C., or Washington state, or both. Highly radioactive spent fuel is not supposed to be buried at those low-level sites. Fuel rods have never before been lost in the history of the commercial nuclear industry in the United States, according to theNRC. NATION Tape believed to show Al-Qaida terrorists WASHINGTON (AP) - The government on Thursday released photos and video excerpts of five suspected al Qaida members delivering what Attorney General John Ashcroft described as "martyrdom messages from suicide terrorists." Ashcroft called upon people worldwide to help "identify, locate and incapacitate terrorists who are suspected of planning additional attacks against innocent civilians." Ashcroft said five videotapes had been recovered from the rubble of the home of Mohammad Atef, believed to have been Osama bin Laden’s military chief. Officials say Atef was killed by a U.S. airstrike in November. Ashcroft said the government had tentatively identified four of the five men. WORLD Hussein says U.S. won’t surprise Iraq BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AP) - Iraq won’t be caught off guard if attacked by U.S. forces, President Saddam Hussein said Thursday. During an address marking the 11th ann iversary of the start of the Persian Gulf War, Saddam accused the United States of resorting to war rather than dialogue. He warned it would lead to the United States’ collapse "in the near future" as the world’s sole superpower. Saddam said Thursday that Iraq "will not be taken by surprise" and is ready to confront any possible U.S. attack on Iraq. "The events of Sept. 11 and the American reaction to them came to reveal extensively how the United States is going headlong in antagonizing the world," he said in a 30-minute speech. Suspected college gunman says he is sick BY CHRIS KAHN ASSOCIATED PRESS GRUNDY, VA. (AP) - A former law student described as abrasive and prone to outbursts said Thursday that he is sick and needs help as he faced charges of killing his dean, a law professor and another student. "I was supposed to see my doc tor," 43-year-old Peter Odighizuwa told District Judge Patrick Johnson, hiding his face behind a green arrest warrant. "He was supposed to help me out... I don't have my medication." Odighizuwa, who was dis missed from the Appalachian School of Law on Tuesday, opened fire inside the school Wednesday with a .380-caliber pistol, sending screaming students fleeing through the windows, police said. Dean L. Anthony Sutin and professor Thomas Blackwell were both killed in their offices. Student Angela Dales, 33, of Vansant, Va., died later in the hospital of gun shot wounds. Three other students were hos pitalized in fair condition. On Thursday, students wept in small, shivering circles, many of them wondering about the class mate who always seemed so aloof and was prone to vulgar out bursts. Kenneth Brown, 28, said his friends always joked that Odighizuwa was one of those guys who would finally crack and bring a gun to school. "He was kind of off-balance," Brown said. "When we met last year, he actually came up and shook my hand and asked my name. Then, like five minutes later he came back and said, 'You know, I'm not crazy, but people tick me off sometimes.' Out of the blue." Court records indicate that Odighizuwa was arrested Aug. 15 for assault and battery of his wife, Abieyuwa Odighizuwa. The police report said he hit his wife in the face with his fist and bruised her right eye. A hearing is set Aug. 6. Despite his problems, Sutin and others tried to help him through school. Last year, Sutin raised enough to buy Odighizuwa a 1985 Nissan, clothes and food, said stu dents and staff. Chris Clifton, the school's fi nancial aid officer, said Sutin helped get Odighizuwa a $19,000 federal loan last fall. "That's what doesn’t make sense," said Mary Kilpatrick, a third-year student, wondering aloud why Odighizuwa would kill Sutin. "He's the one who allowed him to stay here." Odighizuwa is charged with three counts of capital murder, three counts of attempted capital murder and six charges for use of a firearm in a felony. Prosecutor Sheila Tolliver said she will seek the death penalty. "I just feel it's justified in these circumstances," Tolliver said. A few minutes before his ar raignment, Odighizuwa told re porters as he was led into the courtroom, "I was sick, I was sick. I need help." Ashby said that a doctor came to Odighizuwa in jail and pre scribed medication. Ashby would not comment on the kind of med ication. Odighizuwa will remain held without bond pending a prelimi nary hearing March 21. Carmody declined to comment when reached by telephone. Odighizuwa, a native of Nigeria who is known around the rural campus as "Peter 0," had been struggling with his grades for more than a year and had been dismissed once before. Last semester, his grades were lagging again, and school officials told Odighizuwa Tuesday that they were flunking him out of school. Odighizuwa would have to repay about $9,250 in student loans. "I don't think Peter knew at this time that it was going to be per manent and final," Clifton said. "He slung his chair across the room and slammed the door.” After opening fire on the school, Odighizuwa left the build ing. He dropped his gun and sev eral students tackled him and shackled his hands. Odighizuwa kept saying, '"I have nowhere to go. I have nowhere to go,'" said Todd Ross, 30. Hospital officials identified the three wounded students as Rebecca Brown, 38, of Roanoke, Va.; Martha Madeline Short, 37, of Grundy; and Stacy Beans, 22, of Berea, Ky. The private law school has an enrollment of about 170 students. It opened five years ago in a reno vated junior high school to help ease a shortage of lawyers in the region and foster renewal in Appalachia. 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