Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir was embroiled today in a sharp dispute over remarks he made that seemed to many here to condone an attempted terrorist bombing by right-wing Jewish extremists in New York City.

The blast came four years after a previous attempted bombing by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, but following two years of closure for repairs the bridge was reopened with further weight restrictions in place.

In 1977, when his former wife was arrested in the same attempted bombing, long after they had gone their separate ways, he expressed his grief by telling his friends that a former partner had died in an accident.

In the third attempted bombing, a man in dark clothing was shown leaving Warren Street subway station.

In 2005 the historian Wolfgang Kraushaar published a book on the Tupamaros' attempted bombing of the West Berlin Jewish Community Centre, setting off a debate on anti-semitism in the German left and the German student movement.

And Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad smiled and said "Allahu Akbar" after receiving a life sentence in 2010 for his attempted bombing.

Hosam Maher Husein Smadi pleaded guilty to a felony offense related to his attempted bombing of a downtown Dallas skyscraper in September 2009.

On the way, they avert an attempted terrorist bombing of their plane.

Adel Yahya is one of six men convicted in connection with alleged attempted bombings in London on 21 July 2005.

The jurors had said for three days that they did not think they would be able to reach agreement on the racketeering and conspiracy charges, which involved 15 successful or attempted bombings of courthouses, banks, corporate offices and military recruiting and reserve centers.