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Rare suicide bombing hits Israel Israeli killed in suicide bombing
(about 5 hours later)
A suicide bomber has killed a woman in the southern Israeli town of Dimona, the first such attack in over a year. An Israeli woman has been killed in a suicide bombing in the southern town of Dimona, in the first such attack by Palestinian militants in over a year.
Israeli police said a second suicide attacker was shot dead before he was able to detonate his explosives belt. The attacker detonated an explosives belt at a shopping centre. Police shot dead an accomplice wounded in the blast before he could detonate his own belt.
Palestinian militants said the two were from Gaza and had entered Israel via Egypt. Thousands surged into Egypt when the border was breached last month. It is unclear if the militants, from Gaza, reached Israel via Egypt.
Hours later, Israeli aircraft bombed a car in northern Gaza, killing a senior commander of a militant group. Thousands of Gaza residents surged into Egypt last month when militants blew up the border wall.
The Dimona explosion happened in a commercial centre a few kilometres from the base which houses Israel's top-secret nuclear reactor. The border was finally sealed by Egyptian forces on Sunday, but not before huge crowds of besieged Gazans crossed unchecked into Egypt where they stocked up on much-needed supplies.
"We heard a large explosion and people started to run. I saw pieces of flesh flying in the air," a witness told army radio. Israel had warned that Gaza-based militants could take advantage of the chaos to infiltrate its territory across the long and porous desert border between Egypt's Sinai peninsula and the Negev Desert.
The attack came a day after Egyptian forces had finally resealed the border, two weeks after it was blown up by militants from the Hamas movement, de facto rulers of Gaza. Meanwhile several people are reported to have been injured by gunfire following clashes between Egyptian guards and Palestinians at the Gaza-Egypt border.
Border chaos The source of the gunfire is not clear but witnesses said youths were throwing stones at an Egyptian checkpoint before shooting broke out.
Crowds of Gazans used the border breach to cross into Egypt, stock up on much-needed supplies and return to their homes, which are under a tight Israeli blockade. Hamas praise
However, Israel had warned that Gaza-based militants could take advantage of the chaos to infiltrate its territory across the long and porous desert border between the Sinai peninsula and the Negev Desert. Nine other people were wounded, one critically, in the blast in Dimona, a remote town that is home to Israel's top-secret nuclear reactor, but never before the target of a militant attack.
An al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades spokesman told a news conference that the operation had been planned for weeks, but was made possible after the Gaza border was blown up on 23 January. "It was like a war. People were running like crazy. I saw a piece of a human being right there, next to my leg," said witness Rosa Enberg.
The spokesman said it was a joint operation between al-Aqsa, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which supplied the bombers, and another lesser-known faction. class="" href="/1/hi/world/middle_east/7226891.stm">Attack leaves town in fear An al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades spokesman told a news conference in Gaza that it was a joint operation between al-Aqsa, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and another lesser-known faction.
However, it is still not clear whether the bombers took part in the exodus from Rafah, or if it had just facilitated their mission. The group denied bombers Luai Aghwani and Musa Arafat, both from Khan Younis, had reached Israel from Egypt.
However, Mr Arafat's mother said her son had telephoned her from the Egyptian town of el-Arish.
A spokesman for Hamas, which controls Gaza, said the Dimona attack was "a natural reaction to months of killing" of Palestinians by the Israeli army.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah party the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades profess loyalty to, condemned the bombing.Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah party the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades profess loyalty to, condemned the bombing.
He also criticised an earlier military raid in the northern West Bank earlier in the day in which Israeli commandos killed two Palestinian gunmen.He also criticised an earlier military raid in the northern West Bank earlier in the day in which Israeli commandos killed two Palestinian gunmen.
A Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, said the Dimona attack was "a natural reaction to months of killing" of Palestinians by the Israeli army. 'Relentless war'
'Murderous terror' Israel was hit by series of suicide bombings in the 1990s and 2000s, peaking after the Palestinian intifada or uprising broke out in 2000.
Israel was pummelled by series of suicide bombings in the 1990s and 2000s, peaking after the Palestinian intifada or uprising broke out in 2000.
However, there were only two such attacks between April 2006 and now, the last being in January 2007 when a bomber blew himself up in a bakery in Eilat, killing three people.However, there were only two such attacks between April 2006 and now, the last being in January 2007 when a bomber blew himself up in a bakery in Eilat, killing three people.
Monday's blast is also the first since renewed efforts to come to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal were launched with US support last November.Monday's blast is also the first since renewed efforts to come to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal were launched with US support last November.
Palestinian news agencies said Israel later assassinated Amer Qarmut, alias Abu Said, the most senior commander of the Popular Resistance Committees, in an air raid targeting his car. Hours later, Israeli aircraft assassinated the top military commander of the Popular Resistance Committees, Amer Qarmut, alias Abu Said.
His nephew, as well as a passerby, were wounded in the strike. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a meeting of his Kadima party that Israel was fighting a "relentless war... against anyone who tries to harm Israeli citizens".
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said Israel would continue to "fight against this murderous terror", but there was no word on whether the already-faltering peace talks would continue. Israel argues that restrictions it imposes on about four million Palestinians in Gaza and large parts of the occupied West Bank are crucial in preventing such attacks, though the blockades have been condemned as "collective punishment" by the UN.
Israel argues that its blockade of about four million Palestinians in Gaza and large parts of the occupied West Bank is necessary to prevent such attacks.
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