At least 15 people were killed and around 30 wounded today when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a bus in the northern Israeli town of Haifa, the first bombing in Israel in two months.
Twelve were killed on the spot when the bomb ripped through thebus, while three moredied in hospital of their wounds, Israeli army radio said.
Most of the victims were thought to be students as the bus travelled between a residential area on the Carmel heights and Haifa university, public television said. Ten of the wounded were said to be in serious condition.
The suicide bomber was wearing a belt packed with several dozen kilos of explosives and nails to cause maximum carnage.
Israeli public radio said tonight the suicide bomber came from the southern West Bank town of Hebron,
The radio, without citing sources, said an identity card wasfound in the wrecked bus which police believed belonged to thebomber, named as 20-year-old Mahmoud Hamadan Salim Qawasmi.
Palestinian sources said Qawasmi was linked to Hamas.Israeli forces moved into Hebron's Al-Sheikh district where hisfamily lived and arrested Qawasmi's brother and father after thebombing, they said.
It was the first bomb attack inside Israel since January 5th, when two Palestinian suicide bombers blew themselves up in central Tel Aviv, killing 23 other people. That attack was claimed by an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.
No Palestinian faction laid immediate claim to today's bombing, but senior officials from the leading Islamic groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, said the strike was revenge for Israel's killing of civilians in Gaza.
Eight people, including a pregnant woman and a 13-year-old child were killed in Monday's Gaza raid, provoking international calls for Israeli restraint.
Hamas vowed to continue its attacks, while the Palestinian Authority accused Israel of trying to disrupt top-level Palestinian meetings to discuss reforms of Mr Arafat's administration.
Palestinian information minister Mr Yasser Abed Rabbo condemned the bombing in a statement.Israeli government spokesman Mr Avi Pazner called the deadly blast a "very grave attack" and said Israel would take "vigorous action against the terrorist organisations."
British Foreign Secretary Mr Jack Straw condemned today's bombing, saying there was no justification for attacks on innocent civilians."Attacks like these will not help the Palestinian cause," he said. "Once again I urge all parties to do everything they can to prevent further bloodshed on both sides."
The White House said US President George W. Bush also condemned the attack "in the strongest terms". A spokesman said Mr Bush US "stands strongly with the people of Israel in fighting terrorism".
AFP