At least 25 dead, 200 injured in Israel bombings

8.00 am - UPDATE

JERUSALEM - Four Palestinian bombings killed at least 25 people and wounded about 200 yesterday in different parts of Israel.

And at least one Israeli died when gunmen opened fire on settlers in the Elei Sinai settlement in the Gaza Strip. Two men, said by hardline Islamic group Hamas to be part of its armed wing, were chased and killed.

Bombs exploded on a bus late last night in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, killing at least seven people, police said. There were conflicting reports about whether a second bus was also involved.

At least 10 people were wounded, witnesses said.

The bombing came just 12 hours after a double Palestinian suicide bombing and a car bomb minutes later killed 10 Israelis and wounded more than 150 on a crowded street in the heart of a Jerusalem cafe district.

An Israeli spokesman said the blasts, which hurled victims and severed limbs into the air, were the biggest attack in Jerusalem in years.

They dealt a fresh blow to a new United States mission to end 14 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

US President George W. Bush demanded that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat bring those responsible for the attacks to justice and "act swiftly and decisively against the organisations that support them."

"Now more than ever, Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority must demonstrate through their actions and not merely their words their commitment to fight terror."

Planned talks in the White House between Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon were brought forward to today to enable the Premier to fly home early from the US to tackle the crisis.

Israel said it held Arafat directly responsible for the attacks.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the bombings, which it said were intended to foil peace efforts, and vowed to investigate who was behind the attacks.

An anonymous telephone caller told Reuters the militant Islamic Jihad movement was responsible for the Jerusalem bombings but the claim could not be confirmed independently.

Police said at least 10 people were killed in addition to the two Palestinian suicide bombers who detonated their explosives within moments of each other on a crowded pedestrian mall.

Witnesses said the first blast shook the crowded Ben Yehuda street, full of restaurants and cafes and the site of several previous attacks, just before midnight local time.

Police said the bombs were packed with nails.

"People flew into the air and there are many people covered in blood," said an eyewitness.

Minutes later, a bomb exploded in a car about 50m away as about 20 people tried to move it because it was blocking a road needed by ambulances to rush the injured to hospital, the witnesses said.

Another witness, Yossi Mizrahi, said: "I saw people without arms. I saw a person with their stomach hanging open.

"I saw a 10-year-old-boy breathe his last breath. I can't believe anybody would do anything like this."

Bystanders ran from the scene weeping.

Others were left sobbing and trembling. Some chanted "Death to Arabs".

A woman called Ilana said one bomber wore a red shirt and jeans. "He stood and just blew up."

Bush called Sharon to offer condolences for the bloodshed.

Rescue workers at the scene of the Haifa bus bombing said the toll was apparently higher than the seven reported by police. At least 10 people were wounded, witnesses said.

Israeli security sources said a suicide bomber set off explosives in at least one of the buses. Witnesses said a second bus was damaged by the blast in the first bus.

Haim Erovsky, a witness, told Israel Radio: "Two buses exploded at the same time. One bus is totally burned out, charred." He said it was at a busy intersection.

He said the other bus was being used by the Israeli military.

US envoy Anthony Zinni, who has been holding talks in the region since last Monday, said he had telephoned Arafat after the Jerusalem blasts and urged him to find and put on trial those responsible for the "vicious and evil" attack.

He vowed to continue working for implementation of a ceasefire and a truce-to-talks plan but said this could be done only if the Palestinian Authority made a "comprehensive and sustained effort" to rein in militants.

Israeli Government spokesman Avi Pazner said: "As head of the Palestinian Authority, Arafat bears direct responsibility for what happened today in Jerusalem."

The Palestinian Authority denied responsibility for the Jerusalem attack."The Palestinian leadership condemns fully the explosion,"the authority said.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Arafat had received a telephone call from US Secretary of State Colin Powell and that the two had discussed the attack, its likely impact and Zinni's peace mission.

Zinni's mission has been marred by violence.

Days before he arrived, Israel killed a militant it called a master bomber and the militant Islamic group Hamas vowed to avenge his death.

The Palestinian Authority condemned those attacks.

At least 731 Palestinians and 196 Israelis had been killed before yesterday's attacks in violence which erupted in September last year, shortly after peace talks stalled.

On Saturday, Israeli troops killed two Palestinians, one of them an 11-year-old boy, in violence that erupted after they surrounded the West Bank city of Jenin following the suicide bombing earlier in the week.

- REUTERS

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