A suicide bomber blew himself up and wounded at least seven people in the second bomb attack in Jerusalem today, Israeli police said.
A man with a bag got onto a number 6 bus and raised the suspicions of the passengers. He immediately got off the bus and then the explosion occurred, Jerusalem police spokesman Mr Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.
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Six hours earlier, a car bomb exploded near an Israeli shopping mall in Jerusalem, injuring three people during the morning rush hour in a blast claimed by Islamic militants.
In the second bombing in the Jewish French Hill neighbourhood, police said they had recovered the body of the assailant. Jerusalem police chief Mr Mickey Levy said the man had carried the explosives around his waist.
The Israeli army imposed a complete blockade around Hebron and a curfew on Arab residents following the killing of 10-month-old Shalhevet Pass yesterday, who was shot in the head and her father injured by a Palestinian sniper the day before.
Jewish settlers torched Palestinian offices in Hebron after trying to storm overnight the Arab hilltop district overlooking the Jewish quarter of the city which was said to be the source of the gunfire, vandalising cars and homes before the army intervened.
"The army will strike those responsible for this horrible act," Defence Minister Mr Binyamin Ben Eliezer said of the killing of the baby, the youngest victim so far of the intifada.
But Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon came under fire from settlers and their political mouthpiece the National Religious Party (NRP) for failing to take tough action against the latest wave of anti-Israeli attacks.
"The prime minister apparently does not understand that the crushing majority he got in the elections want him to adopt a different policy to that of (predecessor) Mr Ehud Barak," said NRP lawmaker Mr Shaul Yahalom.
AFP