IMMANUEL (West Bank), Dec 12: Ten people were killed and at least 30 wounded on Wednesday when guerillas ambushed a bus outside a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, police said.

Witnesses and medics at the scene said a bomb was detonated as the bus from Tel Aviv turned a corner near the entrance to the Immanuel settlement, in the northern West Bank.

Seconds later, three men tossed grenades and opened fire with machineguns on passengers fleeing after the explosion and on rescue workers who came to help the wounded.

Ten people were killed. Most of them had been travelling on the bus. Others were trapped in the wreckage of the vehicle and in nearby cars damaged in the shooting.

Ambulance officials said five people were critically wounded. Rescue helicopters were sent to bring the wounded to Tel Aviv area hospitals.

An Israeli army radio reporter at the scene said he saw the body of one Palestinian man, holding an M-16 automatic rifle and a pistol, lying on the ground. A driver had apparently run him over while he was firing and then police shot him dead.

Israeli radio stations said two of three men involved in the attack fled in the direction of the West Bank city of Nablus. Israeli soldiers searched nearby hills for the gunmen firing flares to light the night sky.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed unit linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Isahal Otner, a passenger on the bus, told army radio that a grenade was thrown at the back of the bus and bullets sprayed on the vehicle as it approached the settlement.—Reuters