24 January 2004	Saturday	01 Zilhaj 1424

TEL AVIV, Jan 23: Israel has come up with a new system aimed to stop suicide bombers boarding buses before blowing themselves up, by detecting the explosives they are carrying.

The system, developed by Israeli Military Industries, takes the form of a turnstile fitted with shields that contain sensors which can detect explosive materials and metals at a distance of up to a metre from the bus.

When the sensors identify a suspicious object, the turnstile remains blocked and a red light flashes near the bus driver. A green light indicator goes on when a harmless passenger boards the bus. Another turnstile at the rear door allows passengers to get off the bus, but not board it.

Windows are bullet-proof and shrapnel-proof and a communication system allows the driver to talk to passengers waiting outside the bus and also to lock the windows and summon help in case of emergency.

The Israeli daily Maariv on Friday estimated the cost of each bus at between 25,000 and 30,000 dollars. If a trial period on five buses turns out to be positive, some 4,000 buses will be fitted with the new system within two years.

More than 20 suicide bombers have blown themselves up aboard Israeli buses or at bus stops since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising in Sept 2000, killing around 100 people and wounding scores.

Maariv also revealed that Israel's foreign ministry had decided to back an initiative by Zaka - the religious organization in charge of collecting human remains after bombings - to send the charred carcass of a bus to the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

The move aims to press Israel's point that the separation barrier it is building in the West Bank is needed to prevent Palestinian attackers from crossing into its territory.

The ICJ is to give its opinion on the legality of the barrier on Feb 23. The world court's decision, asked for by an Arab-backed UN General Assembly resolution, will only be advisory. -AFP