Russia condemns terrorist act on West Bank

The Russian foreign ministry condemns the extremist act on the West Bank and expresses its deepest sympathy to the families of all those who were killed or wounded, reads a statement issues by Russia's official foreign-ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko.

"The act was obviously meant to thwart the international effort to pacify the situation and create favorable conditions for a peace process," reads the statement. "It was no accident that the terrorist act coincided with the high-level meeting of the Group of Four in New York." According to Yakovenko, the terrorist act is "an open challenge to the world community." "In a situation like this, it is extremely important not to walk into the trap and start using force to settle the situation," stresses the spokesman, adding that Moscow thinks the opposed parties must keep their heads. "Apart from resolute measures to put an end to terrorist activity, it is also important that we take concrete measures to alleviate the humanitarian situation on Palestinian territories and speed up the search for ways of settling the conflict by political means." The aforementioned terrorist act took place in an Israeli settlement on the West Bank and followed several weeks of relative quiet. The explosion and armed attack on a passenger coach killed 7 Israelis and wounded dozens more.