Israeli police: Suicide bomber kills three in southern resort town

Monday, January 29th 2007, 6:47 am

By: News On 6

EILAT, Israel (AP) _ A Palestinian suicide bomber attacked a bakery in this southern Israeli resort town on Monday, killing three people and himself, police said. It was the first suicide bombing in Israel in nine months and the first ever to hit Eilat, Israel's southernmost city.

The morning attack struck Eilat, a normally tranquil Red Sea resort located at Israel's southern tip near the Jordanian and Egyptian borders. Separated from Israel's largest cities by hundreds of miles of desert, it has been largely immune from Israeli-Palestinian fighting and is a popular getaway for Israelis.

Israeli leaders said the bombing jeopardized a two-month truce in Gaza. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to continue the ``ongoing and never-ending struggle against terrorists.''

His defense minister, Amir Peretz, convened an emergency meeting of top security officials. ``This is a grave incident, it's an escalation and we shall treat it as such,'' Peretz said.

A spokesman for Hamas, the radical Islamic group that controls the Palestinian parliament and Cabinet, praised the bombing as a ``natural response'' to Israeli policies _ a position likely to complicate the group's efforts to end a crippling aid boycott imposed by the international community.

Two Palestinian militant groups, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, claimed joint responsibility for the attack.

Both groups said the bombing was meant to help bring an end to weeks of Palestinian infighting that has killed more than 60 people in the Gaza Strip since December. Fighting continued across the Gaza Strip on Monday, and four people were killed officials said.

``The operation has a clear message to the Palestinian rivals. It is necessary to end the infighting and point the guns toward the occupation that has hurt the Palestinian people,'' a posting on the Islamic Jihad Web site said.

The group identified the bomber as Mohammed Saksak, 20, of Gaza City. Saksak's family said he had left their home three days ago and not returned.

Relatives said he was despondent because he was unemployed and his baby daughter died recently of an illness. Also, his best friend was killed in a clash with Israeli forces, they said, and his brother is a top Islamic Jihad militant.

Witnesses said the bomber stood out because he wore a long winter coat on a warm, sunny day when he struck the small bakery in a residential neighborhood. Police said the bomb was in a bag he was carrying rather than an explosives belt often used in past suicide attacks.

``I thought to myself, 'What's that idiot dressed like that for?' A couple of seconds later I heard a massive explosion,'' Benny Mazgini, 45, told Israel Radio.

Shattered glass, body parts and blood-splattered pastries were visible on the sidewalk outside, alongside bread trays scattered by the blast.

The attack was the second suicide bombing in Israel since Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections last January. The group came under criticism for making statements in support of a suicide bombing in a Tel Aviv restaurant shortly after it took power.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, called Monday's attack a ``natural response'' to Israeli military policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as its ongoing boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian government. ``So long as there is occupation, resistance is legitimate,'' he said.

He also said attacks on Israel were preferable to the recent bout of Palestinian infighting in Gaza between his group and the more moderate Fatah Party of President Mahmoud Abbas. ``The right thing is for Fatah weapons to be directed toward the occupation not toward Hamas,'' Barhoum said.

In the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, a large crowd gathered outside the bomber's home to praise the attack. ``Mohammed be happy. You will go directly to heaven,'' the crowd chanted, while children held pictures of the bomber. He looked pensive in one image, and held a machine gun in another.

In Washington, the White House condemned the violence and said it held the Hamas-led government accountable.

``Failure to act against terror will inevitably affect relations between that government and the international community and undermine the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a state of their own,'' the White House said.

It was the first suicide bombing in Israel since last April, when a bomber struck a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 12 people.

Suicide bombings were at their height four years ago, when hundreds of Israelis were killed in dozens of attacks. A renewal of such violence could derail current efforts by the U.S., Israel and Abbas to renew peace talks.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, one of the groups claiming responsibility for Monday's attack, is linked to Fatah. However, Fatah spokesman Ahmad Abdul Rahman condemned the violence, saying, ``We are against any operation that targets civilians, Israelis or Palestinians.''

Islamic Jihad spokesmen declined to say how the bomber left Gaza, though Abu Hamzeh insisted it was not through Gaza's often-closed Rafah crossing into Egypt _ Gazans' only gateway to the outside world.

If it is found Saksak did leave through Rafah, however, a delicate, U.S-brokered arrangement involving Palestinian security forces and European monitors could face additional trouble.