AL QUDS, July 31: In a second blast in Al Quds in 24 hours, a bomb exploded in a cafeteria in the Hebrew University on Wednesday, killing seven people and wounding at least 86 others, 14 of them seriously.

Two US citizens were among those killed, and two South Korean students were among the critically injured by the blast, which occurred next door to the university’s school for overseas exchange students.

The militant was not a suicide bomber, but placed a bag with explosives in the canteen, according to the Islamic fundamentalist Hamas organisation which claimed responsibility. Police believed he managed to escape.

In a statement to the al-Jazeera television station, Hamas said the university explosion was revenge for last week’s Israeli bombing attack in Gaza, which killed Izz a-Din al-Qassam leader Salah Shehada, and 14 bystanders, among them 11 children.

The Palestinian Authority condemned Wednesday’s attack. In a statement it said: “The Palestinian leadership received with shock and condemnation the terrorist operation carried out at the Hebrew University of Al Quds”.

The attack, the PA said, was “a contradiction to the moral and human values in addition to severely damaging the image of the Palestinian people before the world, which supported our people and condemned the Israeli massacre against our children in Gaza.”

The blast wrecked the cafeteria in the Frank Sinatra building on the university’s Mount Scopus campus.—dpa