Mogus Mahento

Mar 20, 2002 - Mogus Mahento, 75, of Holon, was one of seven people killed in a suicide bombing of an Egged bus No. 823 traveling from Tel Aviv to Nazareth at the Musmus junction on Highway 65 (Wadi Ara) near Afula.

The attack occurred around 7 AM., shortly after the No. 823 Egged bus had stopped to take on passengers at the Umm el-Fahm junction. A few moments later, the terrorist detonated the explosives strapped to his body, blowing himself up and killing or wounding all of those with him on the bus, which was completely gutted. Mogus Mahento was one of four soldiers and three civilians killed in the blast. He was on his way to Upper Nazareth to pay a condolence call to the family of Maharatu Tagana, a friend who was killed in a suicide bombing at the Afula central bus station on March 5.

Mogus Mahento immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia in 1991, in Operation Solomon. He came from a village in the Gonder region, where he was a locksmith. In Israel, he first lived in an absorption center in Hadera, before moving to a senior citizens' home in Holon. Friends said that he spent most of his time helping with his grandchildren.

Mogus Mahento was buried in the Yarkon cemetery in Tel-Aviv. He was divorced, and is survived by four children and 13 grandchildren.