NETANYA (Israel) July 12: At least two Israelis were killed and around 40 wounded after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a shopping centre in the Israeli city of Netanya on Tuesday, security sources said.

The blast occurred at the entrance to the Kenyon Hasharon mall around 1530 GMT, police said.

Security sources confirmed that the blast was the work of a suicide bomber. The two other victims were said to be Israeli passers-by.

A report on army radio said the bomber exploded when he was stopped at the entrance to the mall.

It is the first suicide attack in Israel since a bombing outside a Tel Aviv nightclub on Feb 25, carried out by members of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

A source close to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that the latest attack was proof that the Palestinian Authority was “doing nothing to stop terrorism”.

“This attack illustrates once again the impotence of the Palestinian Authority which is doing nothing to stop terrorism,” the source said.

The official said that further transfers of security control from the Israeli army to the Palestinian Authority in parts of the West Bank would not take place “in these conditions”.

Israel had been expected to hand over security control in the West Bank town of Bethlehem in the next few days.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat swiftly condemned the bombing, saying that it would upset efforts to ensure that next month’s Israeli pullout from the occupied Gaza Strip would lead to a return to the troubled roadmap peace plan which aims at creating a Palestinian state.—AFP