Suicide bomber kills 3 in Israel

Jerusalem - A suicide bomber on Monday blew himself up in the southern town that houses Israel's secretive nuclear reactor, killing at least three other people and wounding five, Israeli rescue officials said.

Police said there were two attackers, though only one managed to detonate his explosives belt, but it was not immediately clear whether the Dimona nuclear reactor was their target. The blast, the first suicide attack in Israel in more than a year, took place in an industrial area about six miles from the reactor site.

"We heard a large explosion and people started to run. I saw pieces of flesh flying in the air," a witness identified only by her first name, Revital, told Army Radio.

The Haaretz daily reported that the second attacker was shot dead before he could explode himself.

Southern Israel has been on alert against militant attacks since the Gaza Strip's Islamic Hamas rulers breached the border with Egypt on Jan. 23. Egypt managed to reseal the border only on Sunday.

The breach made Israel's Negev desert, where Dimona is located, more vulnerable to penetration by Palestinian militants who could enter through Egypt's Sinai desert. Dimona is about 40 miles northeast of the porous Egyptian border. Last week, Israel closed a number of popular hiking areas in the south for fear of militant attacks.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's attack.

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha said he did not know whether his group was involved but that the attack was justified. He also rejected suggestions that the bombing would hurt Hamas' chances of reopening the border with Egypt.

"The suicide bombings were there before the closures and the resistance used every opportunity to make these glorious acts," he said. "They show the Palestinians can respond to the enemy and their crimes."

The last suicide bombing in Israel occurred on Jan. 29, 2007, when a Palestinian attacker killed three Israelis at a bakery in the southern Israeli city of Eilat. Before that blast, there had been no suicide bombings in Israel for nine months, though Israel says it has foiled numerous attempts at carrying out such attacks.

After the breakdown of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in 2000, Palestinian militants carried out dozens of suicide bombings that killed hundreds of people. Last November, peace negotiations were resumed between Israel and the moderate, West-Bank-based government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.-- Associated Press

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