Bomb rips apart Israeli bus, 15 dead

7.30am

HAIFA, Israel - The first Palestinian suicide bombing in two months has torn apart a packed Israeli bus in the port city of Haifa, killing at least 15 people and wounding about 40, police and medics say.

The explosion ripped the roof off bus number 37, turned the vehicle into a charred wreck and hurled bodies out onto a main street at the entrance to the Carmeliya neighbourhood in Israel's third largest city.

"My boss and I stepped out after lunch. We heard an enormous explosion. Body parts, hands, legs, glass and debris flew from the bus to right in front of the hairdresser salon," said Michael Afuta, 20, who works at a nearby hairdresser's.

"The salon shook from the force. Glass broke, lights went out. I ran to the bus but I was so scared of another blast that after a few seconds I came back...It was horrific."

It was the first suicide attack since Israel's new rightist government took office last week and it coincided with an army offensive in Gaza which has fuelled Palestinian fears of tougher Israeli moves as the world focuses on possible war in Iraq.

The United States, which wants calm in the region before any war and rebuked Israel this week over its latest raid, led international condemnation of the blast. President George W. Bush vowed to keep pursuing peace moves and Britain, France, Germany and Russia called for a fresh peace process.

No claim of responsibility had been made several hours after the bombing -- an unusual silence from militant groups who have been behind scores of suicide attacks in Israel. The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack.

Israel's new ruling coalition did not say how it would respond, but it includes ministers who want a tougher line against the uprising than the previous coalition and support calls for the expulsion of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

The last suicide bombing in the 29-month-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation was on January 5, when 23 people were killed in Tel Aviv.

Wednesday's blast followed army incursions in which 80 Palestinians, both gunmen and civilians, have been killed in the past five weeks -- a period in which eight Israelis have been killed. Israel says the raids root out militants, but they are condemned abroad.

Police said the assailant had a large bomb strapped to his body. The blast from the nail-packed bomb, the trademark of suicide militants, sprayed nearby cars with blood and showered bus seats and victims' shoes onto the street.

Rescue workers draped several bodies still lying in the bus with blankets and one body was left hanging out of a window.

"We are talking about a suicide bomber who blew up inside the bus. Apparently he had a huge explosives belt on his body. The damage was huge," Yakov Borovsky, police commander for northern Israel, told reporters at the scene.

Police said at least 15 people were killed, but it was not clear whether the figure included the bomber. The police said the bomber blew himself up at a busy time when students at a local university had just finished their studies.

Intensified Israeli military blockades, curfews and raids in the West Bank since mid-2002 have reduced the number of suicide attacks but Israeli police say they continue to thwart bombing attempts almost daily.

The army said troops had pre-empted 53 militant attacks including suicide bombings in February and the government said Arafat's Palestinian Authority was to blame for the attack.

"The Palestinian Authority has been doing absolutely nothing to stop this horrendous blood trail of killing and carnage. There was a deceptive lull in attacks mainly because of the success of our security services," said a government spokesman.

Arafat has said repeatedly that Palestinian security services cannot staunch the violence because they have been crippled by Israeli blockades, waves of arrests and demolition of infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"The leadership announces its condemnation to this operation in which civilians, who are not part of the war of annihilation waged by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people, were killed," a Palestinian Authority statement said.

International peace moves are now focused on a nascent "road map" envisaging a Palestinian state sought by Arafat but unpalatable to many right-wingers in Sharon's government.

The Bush administration believes the onus is on Palestinians to break the deadlock by giving up violence and has delayed presenting the "road map" to both parties. The Palestinians say it is up to Israel to halt its military operations.

The toll before the blast was at least 1891 Palestinians and 706 Israelis killed since the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000 after peace talks on a Palestinian state stalled.

- REUTERS