August 20, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-us-Sani 21, 1424

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AL QUDS, Aug 19: In one of the worst terror attacks in three years of the Intifada, up to 20 people were killed and nearly 100 were wounded by a suicide bomb explosion on Tuesday night in the centre of Al Quds.

Al Quds chief of police Michael Levy said the victims included many children.

According to unconfirmed reports, the suicide bomber was disguised as an ultra-Orthodox Jew and had mingled with believers who were travelling in a bus from the Wailing Wall in the old part of the city to the western part. The wall is the holiest of Judaism sites.

The Israeli government late on Tuesday put a hold on plans to turn over responsibility for administering two Palestinian cities to the Palestinian authority, radio reports said. The handover was to have taken place on Wednesday.

TALKS FROZEN: Israel later said it was freezing planned talks intended to break a deadlock holding up the transfer of four West Bank cities to Palestinian control.

A handover agreement would be a significant move forward along the road map underpinned by the ceasefire, which frayed last week when Palestinian suicide bombers killed two Israelis after deadly Israeli military swoops against militants.

Long pieces of twisted poles stuck out of the top of the bus. A silver-coloured car smashed into the back of the bus, leaving its doors hanging open and the bonnet open.

CLAIMS: The Islamic group Hamas claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing aboard a bus that killed at least 20 people, an attack claimed earlier by another Palestinian militant group.

A videotape released by Hamas in the West Bank city of Al Khalil showed a man who named himself as Raed Abdel-Hamid Mask and said he would carry out the suicide bombing to avenge Israel’s killing of one of the group’s members.

Earlier, the Islamic Jihad group said in a statement to Lebanon’s al-Manar television that it carried out the attack.

ABBAS CONDEMNS: Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas condemned the suicide bombing.

“I announce my strong condemnation of this horrible act which does not serve the interest of the Palestinian people at all and I have given my instructions to the security minister to launch an investigation,” Abbas told reporters in Gaza.

“I am really sorry for the families of the victims of this painful incident,” added Abbas, who has spoken out against use of arms in a 34-month-old uprising for independence in the West Bank and Gaza.

When the blast happened, the prime minister was meeting militants to try to shore up a ceasefire they declared on June 29 to help him promote a US-backed “road map” to peace. He cautioned Israel against retaliation.—Agencies