8.30 am
JERUSALEM - Palestinian gunmen killed eight people and wounded 30 in a grenade-and-shooting ambush on an Israeli bus in the West Bank on Wednesday, just minutes before two suicide bombers struck in the Gaza Strip.
The attacks followed an Israeli helicopter attack that killed four Palestinian militants overnight in the
Gaza Strip. The new bloodshed threatened to wreck US envoy Anthony Zinni's renewed efforts to end nearly 15 months of violence.
A day earlier, Zinni, a former Marine Corps general, had secured an agreement by both sides to seek two full days of calm in an attempt to ease tensions.
"Those terrorist acts are probably (Palestinian President) Yasser Arafat's answer to General Zinni's request for a 48-hour cease-fire. Apparently Arafat and the Palestinian Authority can speak only the language of terrorism and death," said Emmanuel Nahshon, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed group linked to Arafat's Fatah group, claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was to avenge recent killings by Israeli forces.
Witnesses said a roadside bomb was detonated as the bus, apparently packed with Israeli settlers returning from Tel Aviv, turned a corner near the Jewish settlement of Immanuel in the northern West Bank, witnesses and officials said.
Palestinian gunmen then threw grenades and opened fire at the bus. The army said eight people were killed, and emergency officials said 30 were wounded, five of them critically.
Isahal Otner, a passenger on the bus, told Army radio a grenade was thrown at the back of the bus and gunfire was sprayed on the vehicle as it turned a corner on the approach to the settlement.
"There was a huge explosion in the back of the bus...all the windows of the back of the bus were destroyed...the bus continued slowly for about 100 yards and people lay on the ground."
Ambulance workers said they were shot at when they arrived at the scene.
Minutes after the bus attack, two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the Gush Katif Jewish settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip. Israeli security sources and Israeli television said at least three people were wounded.
The Palestinian assaults took place in rapid succession soon after an Israeli tank raid in the West Bank city of Jenin earlier on Wednesday.
Palestinian witnesses said three tanks took up position near the centre of Jenin, drew fire from gunmen and then responded with machineguns and shellfire before withdrawing. Ten people were wounded, two of them critically, hospital sources said.
The Israeli army said gunmen had opened fire on a tank outside Jenin, and two tanks then advanced into the outskirts of the Palestinian-ruled city and opened fire.
Hours earlier, Zinni, Washington's new peace envoy, had received commitments from Palestinian and Israeli security chiefs that they would seek to rein in violence to provide calm for the next two days, US officials said.
But fierce fighting erupted almost as soon as the US-brokered talks ended on Tuesday.
Helicopters firing missiles killed two militants on Tuesday near Khan Younis refugee camp, overlooking the Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.
The Israeli army said it had responded to gunfire from a "terrorist squad." But Palestinian officials accused Israel of assassinating members of the Abu Rish Brigades, an armed, breakaway faction of Arafat's Fatah group.
More than 30,000 Palestinians marched in the men's funeral procession. Some militants fired guns in the air as the crowd chanted "Revenge, revenge."
When some of the marchers threw stones at soldiers guarding the nearby Neve Dekelim settlement, troops responded with rubber bullets and live ammunition, Palestinian witnesses said.
Several people were injured, including a seven-year-old child hit in the hand with a live bullet and a man who was critically wounded in the stomach, Palestinian hospital officials said.
The latest bloodshed cast further doubt on the effectiveness of Zinni's mission, already dented by a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings that unleashed retaliatory Israeli air strikes.
Zinni had earlier this week seemed almost ready to pack up and go home after two weeks spent in the region to the accompaniment of some of the worst violence in months.
Despite the latest bloodshed, a US diplomat said earlier on Wednesday that Zinni was determined to continue his mission.
Palestinian officials say Israel's strikes against militants fan the flames of violence and hamper efforts by Palestinian security forces to crack down on radical groups.
Israel has retaliated for recent suicide bombings with air raids against Arafat's helicopters and Palestinian security installations, attacks which Palestinian officials said were carried out after Sharon received a green light from Washington.
At least 764 Palestinians and 223 Israelis have been killed since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September 2000.
- REUTERS
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8.30 am
JERUSALEM - Palestinian gunmen killed eight people and wounded 30 in a grenade-and-shooting ambush on an Israeli bus in the West Bank on Wednesday, just minutes before two suicide bombers struck in the Gaza Strip.
The attacks followed an Israeli helicopter attack that killed four Palestinian militants overnight in the
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