JERUSALEM - A suspected Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus in northern Israel yesterday, killing seven people including himself and wounding at least 20 others.
It was the second attack within Israel in 12 hours, putting a dent in United States efforts to broker an end to almost
18 months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting which has claimed more than 1400 lives.
A motorist called Nahum told Israel's Army Radio the bus blew up in front of him 5km from the West Bank border.
"There was a huge blast, and the bus kept moving about 30m and then stopped," he said. "The bus was wrecked. They [passengers] flew from the windows, from the rear."
The security sources said the dead included a Palestinian believed to have detonated a bomb.
Suicide bombers have killed scores of people during an uprising against Israeli occupation which erupted in September 2000 after peace talks stalled.
Bus company spokesman Ron Ratner told Israel's Channel Two television the bus driver had survived the explosion and described a passenger who walked to the back of the vehicle before setting off a bomb.
"The bus was packed with labourers, most of them, it seems, of Arab ethnicity," Ratner said.
Earlier in the day border police and civil guard volunteers killed two Palestinian gunmen who had wounded four Israelis in a raid on Aviezer, southwest of Jerusalem.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest violence, which took place just a day after US Vice-President Dick Cheney visited the region.
- REUTERS
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