One killed, several wounded in Iranian ballistic missile attack on central Israel

Bomblets from cluster warhead strike six separate sites in center of country, damaging buildings; medics say another two people lightly hurt in the south by debris from interception

One person was killed and several others were wounded by an Iranian ballistic missile fired at central Israel late Friday, the sixth attack that Iran launched on the country throughout the day.

The missile carried a cluster bomb warhead, spreading bomblets over a wide area.

A bomblet impact killed a 52-year-old man who was not in a bomb shelter at the time, the Haaretz news site reported. He had previously been injured while working as a security guard in a building struck in an Iranian attack on the first day of the war.

The unidentified man — who, according to the Home Front Command, was the only person in the area not in a bomb shelter at the time of the impact — was hit by shrapnel reportedly some 20 meters from where the bomblet fell.

No residents were reported to require evacuation, with Tel Aviv Deputy Mayor Asaf Zamir telling Haaretz that they had already been evacuated following an earlier strike in the area on the first day of the war, which killed 32-year-old Mary Anne Velasquez de Vera.

Another submunition hit a residential building and lightly wounded two men in their 50s, according to the police and Magen David Adom.

The Fire and Rescue Service said it handled a total of six sites where submunitions from the missile impacted.

Medics also reported that two people were lightly injured in the Kuseife area of southern Israel earlier Friday evening from falling fragments following the interception of an Iranian ballistic missile.

MDA said it treated a man aged 37 and a woman in her 20s who were injured by shrapnel. Both were taken to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.

Iran again targeted the south with a ballistic missile salvo launched early Saturday, triggering sirens in Beersheba and surrounding towns, before attacking the north and center of the of the country with two more volleys hours later. None of the attacks on Saturday resulted in injuries.

The deadly attack, which came as Israel continued to carry out strikes in Iran — including early Saturday in Tehran against “targets of the Iranian terror regime,” raised the number of Israeli civilians and foreign nationals killed in Israel by Iranian ballistic missiles to 16 in the ongoing US-Israel war with Iran, along with four Palestinians in the West Bank.

Iran has fired more than 450 ballistic missiles at Israel since the war began on February 28, with the military reporting an interception rate of 92 percent of attacks heading for populated areas and key infrastructure. In all, nine missiles carrying conventional warheads with hundreds of kilograms of explosives have struck populated areas in Israel, causing extensive damage in at least six cases. There have also been more than 30 incidents of missiles carrying cluster bomb warheads hitting populated areas, with over 150 separate impact sites.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.