JERUSALEM, July 31: Carefully synchronizing their attacks, two men carried briefcases packed with explosives and nails into the heart of Jerusalem's most crowded outdoor market on Wednesday and blew themselves up, sending body parts and blood-soaked vegetables flying.

The double blasts killed 14 people including the two bombers and injured more than 150, striking at the teetering Mid-East peace process at a time when renewed progress seemed plausible.

A leaflet claiming to be from the militant Islamic group Hamas took responsibility for the blasts, which went off in an alley about 50 meters (yards) apart from each other. It demanded the release of the group's jailed spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, and all other Palestinian prisoners. It said the demands must be met by 9 pm August 3, but did not say what would happen if they were not.

Mahane Yehuda, Jerusalem's main fruit and vegetable market, was packed with shoppers when the bombs went off at 1:15 pm. ``People flew in the air without legs, without arms, without clothes,'' said one witness, 43-year-old Sarah Yamin. Soot-covered bodies lay on the ground, their blood mixing with smashed watermelons, torn clothes and shredded newspaper. Green awnings covering the alley were torn apart and vegetable stands and clothing displays overturned scraps of clothing dangled from telephone lines.News reports said the two bombers apparently drove to the market together wearing black coats and white shirts perhaps in an effort to look like ultra-orthodox Jews. Each carried a briefcase packed with 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of explosives, police said.

``I heard the explosions one after another,'' said 65-year-old Simha Kadoori, speaking from a hospital bed after doctors removed a 2.5-centimeter (1-inch) black nail lodged in her chest. ``I fell (and) saw blood on my chest.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.