AL QUDS, March 2: At least ten people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of Al Quds on Saturday, Israeli police said.
Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said 36 people were wounded. Israeli army radio said three of the dead were children and two were infants, one an 18-month-old baby. It was not immediately clear whether the bomber was included among the nine dead.
Israeli police and officials swiftly blamed Palestinian militants.
The Palestinian leadership condemned the attack and blamed Israel for the latest surge in violence.
“The Palestinian National Authority fully condemns the operation in Al Quds that targeted civilians. The Palestinian leadership condemns any actions that target civilians from both sides, Israeli and Palestinian,” it said in a statement.
It criticised Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government for what it said was its “policy of aggression against the Palestinian people”.
“The Israeli government carries full responsibility for this latest escalation,” the Palestinian leadership said, adding it remained “fully committed to the peace process”.
CLAIM: Meanwhile, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Fatah group, claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, in a telephone call to AFP here.
The attack took place in the ultra-orthodox neighbourhood of Beit Israel near Al Quds’ old city centre. People were just leaving a service in a nearby synagogue at dusk marking the end of the Sabbath when the attacker detonated the charge at 7:15pm (1015 PST)
Eyewitnesses said the suicide bomber was dressed like an ultra- orthodox Jew and was seen carrying a heavy bag.
The attack site was close to where a car bomb had wounded several Israelis in February of last year.
After news of the attack, there was dancing in the streets of the Palestinian city of Ramallah.
The attack came after Palestinian extremists had threatened to carry out revenge for the Israeli military actions in two Palestinian refugee camps where since Thursday at least 22 Palestinians have been killed.—Agencies
