A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at a crowded train station in central Israel today, killing a security guard who tried to prevent him from entering the station.
The bomb wounded 13 bystanders during the busy morning rush hour in the town of Kfar Saba. Medics said that at least two of the injured were in serious condition.
Police said casualties would have been greater if the security guard had not stopped the bomber at the station entrance. The bomber died in the attack.
A man identifying himself as a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a militant group linked to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, said the group had carried out the attack. In a call to the Associated Press, the man named the bomber as 18-year-old Ahmed Khatib from the Balata refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus.
However, the official spokesperson for Al Aqsa denied the militia was involved in the bombing and said the attack was apparently carried out by a local breakaway faction of the Al Aqsa militia.
The man who called AP said the bombing was carried out jointly with the armed wing of a radical PLO faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He said the militia would continue carrying out attacks on Israelis until Israel has withdrawn from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Today’s blast came a day after the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, and his prime minister-designate, Mahmoud Abbas, reached agreement over the composition of a new Palestinian cabinet, paving the way for the presentation of a US-backed peace plan that envisions Palestinian statehood within three years.
Abbas has been an outspoken critic of attacks on Israelis by Palestinian militants, and is expected to oversee a crackdown on Palestinian militias, along with Mohammed Dahlan, a former Gaza strongman he appointed to a top security post.
Palestinian militants waging a 31-month-old uprising against Israeli occupation have denounced Abbas. Hamas leaders said yesterday they would continue their attacks, but would stop short of engaging in blood confrontations with Palestinian security forces.
Today’s blast went off shortly after 7am (0500BST) as commuters waited to travel to work.
The entrance to the station was blown out, with wires dangling from the ceiling and debris scattered across the steps. Dazed passengers were led away from the station, including members of a scout troop who sat on a pavement, sipping water.
Kfar Saba lies just a few kilometres from the Palestinian town of Qalqiliya in the West Bank, and has been frequently targeted in 31 months of fighting.
David Baker, an official in prime minister Ariel Sharon’s office, said the bombing was ”a vicious attack against in Israeli civilians and another attempt to instil fear in the heart of Israelis”. – Guardian Unlimited Â