Christian pilgrim from Ecuador killed in Israel-Jordan border attack

Published: 2003-11-20

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- A Christian pilgrim from Ecuador was killed Nov. 19 and four others were injured in a terrorist attack on the Israeli-Jordanian border. According to a Ha'aretz newspaper report, the woman killed was Monica Patricia Teran Navarrete, 33. The victims were part of a group of 29 Ecuadorean pilgrims described as "devout Christians." The group was entering Israel from Jordan at the Arava Yitzhak Rabin border terminal when shots were fired by the gunman, a Palestinian truck driver from Jordan. He apparently slipped through the Jordanian border while carrying a Kalashnikov rifle concealed under a blanket. He succeeded in firing several rounds from his automatic weapon before being shot and killed by two Israeli security guards. The pilgrims were the only group in the terminal at the time of the attack. A senior Israeli security source told The Jerusalem Post that the attack had the markings of an al-Qaida strike.

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