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AMIA Bombing

The AMIA Bombing was an attack on the Argentina-Israeli Mutual Association building that was Argentina's worst terrorist attack and the largest single incident of terrorism against Jews since World War II.

Hezbollah is believed to be behind the attack, with backing from Iran. Israeli diplomatic sources told Argentine investigators in 2003 that the attack was a suicide bombing carried out by Ibrahim Hussein Berro, a 29-year-old Shiite Muslim who has been honored with a plaque in southern Lebanon for his martyrdom on July 18, 1994, the date of the bombing.

On that date, a powerful bomb hidden made of ammonium nitrate was driven through the front gates of the AMIA building in downtown Buenos Aires. The building was a large seven-story place which was the headquarters of Argentina's Jewish community. The bomber detonated the bomb, levelling the building and reducing it to rubble, as well as damaging nearby buildings.

86 people died, most of them Jewish. More than 300 others were wounded in the attack, Argentina's worst. Israel sent Mossad agents to Argentina to investigate and Argentina closed its borders for fear more terrorists could enter.

The attack came two years after the 1992 Israeli Embassy Attack in Buenos Aires that killed 29, and two weeks after a bomber blew himself up on a Panamanian commuter plane, killing 21 people including 12 Jews.

A Lebanon-based group called "Partisans of God" claimed the attack, but it is beleived Hezbollah was responsible, with backing from Iran. Israel stated this in a 2003 reprot on the bombing. In September 2003, Britian arrested an Iranian diplomat it said helped plan and finance the 1994 bombing.