Here’s a very weird report from Reuters about twin suicide bombings on Israeli buses that supposedly took place last Tuesday—and somehow escaped being reported by every media service in the world: Twin suicide bombings on Israeli buses kill 16. (Hat tip: Kragar.)

Something is seriously amiss here. There are enough details in this story to make it seem quite contemporary and realistic, and it’s dated Friday April 15, 2005, but it seems to be describing an event that didn’t happen…

BEERSHEBA, Israel (Reuters) - Palestinian suicide bombers killed at least 16 people in simultaneous attacks on two Israeli buses on Tuesday, breaking a long lull in such violence and threatening to disrupt an Israeli plan to pull out of Gaza.

The bombings by the militant Islamic group Hamas in the southern city of Beersheba were the first in Israel since March and the deadliest since last October. They showed that Hamas was not a spent force, even after repeated Israeli assassinations of its leaders and the building of a West Bank barrier.

Thousands of Hamas supporters celebrated in Gaza, singing and throwing sweets in the air after bombings which the group said were to avenge Israel’s assassination of two top leaders after the last suicide bombing nearly 6 months ago.

The bombers boarded buses at the same stop near Beersheba’s central bus station and detonated hidden explosive belts when the vehicles were just a few dozen metres (yards) apart, gutting the buses and scattering bloody remains.

“The bus simply blew up. It just blew up in front of my eyes,” said motorist Joey Harel.

No Israeli news site is reporting anything like this. What the hell?

UPDATE at 4/14/05 10:05:45 pm:

The story seems to be from September 2004: 16 killed and 80 hurt as suicide squad hits two Israeli buses at the same time.

UPDATE at 4/14/05 10:10:43 pm:

This is a major league foul-up on Reuters’ part. And now it’s being featured on Google News.

UPDATE at 4/15/05 7:39:07 am:

Ironically, just a few days ago a senior Reuters exec lamented their “terrible quality.” (Hat tip: LawHawk.)

Reuters, the news agency which bars its reporters from using the word “terrorist” in stories, is in turmoil following an e-mail from its global managing editor lamenting “terrible quality problems” at the wire service.

“Our content platform is burning,” wrote David Schlesinger in a memo intended for 10 senior managers, but was read by thousands of employees in the company’s daily briefing. “Our news is perceived as not having enough insight; our data is perceived as having terrible quality problems. Both news and data are not nearly the differentiating factors in Reuters’ offering that they should be, that they could be, that they need to be.”