61.   The blast came on the eve of the Purim holiday, which celebrates the deliverance of the Jews of ancient Persia from a plot to slaughter them.

62.   The blast came shortly before Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat were scheduled to make separate announcements of steps toward a cease-fire.

63.   The blast came the day after a powerful car bomb was neutralized near the building in Makhachkala, the capital of the republic in southern Russia.

64.   The blast came two days after the Basque Nationalist Party bested anti-independence parties.

65.   The blast comes two weeks after a black U-S marine was beaten up by a group of skinheads.

66.   The blasts came a day after four suspected members of ETA died when explosives they were handling exploded inside a car in the Basque city of Bilbao.

67.   The blasts came a day after Manila-area police were put on alert for holiday bombing attacks by the rebel group.

68.   The blasts came only three months before general elections seen as a referendum on peace talks with the Palestinians and Syria.

69.   The blast came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan had declared an official end to the war between their countries.

70.   The blast came a day after two pipe bombs exploded in the Tel Aviv suburb of Kfar Saba, injuring an Israeli.