Hamas wing claims responsibility for Dimona bomb

The mother, right, and grandmother of suicide bomber Luay Laghwani mourn in Gaza City on Monday. The first suicide bombing in Israel in more than a year killed an Israeli woman and two Palestinian attackers in Dimona on Monday. PHOTO: EPA

Dr Baruch Mandelzweig ran to the scene of the blast, ready to save lives. A suicide bomber's ravaged body lay on the ground. A man, badly injured, lay nearby, moving his head. The Israeli doctor raced into action, clearing the victim's airway. Then he saw a sight that shocked him.

His "patient" was wearing a belt crammed with explosives. He, too, was a suicide bomber. Mandelzweig jumped away, and a police officer shot the bomber dead before he could detonate his explosives. The officer, Koby Mor, won a promotion, as well as accolades from Israeli TV stations, who called him the "hero of the day" as they played video of his exploits over and over.

The suicide bombing on Monday in the desert town next to Israel's fortified nuclear reactor, killing an Israeli woman and wounding 11 people.

The attack fueled Israel's fears that Gaza militants would exploit a recent border breach with Egypt to sneak into Israel. The militants behind the attack claimed they had entered Israel through the porous Egyptian border, about 60km from the town, though Israeli police said they were still investigating.

Meanwhile, Israel said its troops killed two Palestinian gunmen from the Islamist Hamas movement yesterday near the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

The incident occurred after a Hamas source said the group's armed wing had claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing. It was the first such attack inside Israel claimed by the group since 2004.

An of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip claimed responsibility and vowed further attacks, threatening to complicate recently revived peace talks. The group said it was not acting under Abbas' influence.

Abbas the violence from his West Bank stronghold. But in the Gaza Strip, gunmen fired in the air and relatives of the bombers passed out sweets to celebrate the bombing.

Israeli said peace talks with Abbas would continue, but vowed to push forward with the country's military campaign in Gaza, which is controlled by the violent Islamic Hamas. Hours after the bombing, an Israeli aircraft attacked a car in northern Gaza, killing a senior militant who was involved in rocket attacks on Israel.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged on Monday that Israel "will not relent" in its struggle against militants, after the Dimona bombing.

Addressing Israeli parliament, Olmert said that Israel is facing a "constant war" in the southern part of the country, referring to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. Israel believes the suicide bombers infiltrated into Israel from Egypt after crossing from Gaza into Egypt.

Referring the attack in Dimona, Olmert said, "It was a very harsh incident that only points again to the complexity that we deal with daily. I have said more than once in the past few weeks that a constant war is being conducted in the south of the country, a war of terror against us and our war against terror, this war will continue, terrorism will be hit. We will not relent."

While Palestinian militants have carried out dozens of suicide bombings since 2000, Monday's attack was the first on Dimona, a working class town next to Israel's nuclear reactor. The explosion took place in a shopping area about 10km from the facility.

Israeli dismissed suggestions that the reactor might have been targeted. The facility, where atomic weapons are believed to have been developed, is heavily guarded, enclosed by a large 3m barbed-wire fence and located 2km down a road closed to the public. Israel neither admits nor denies having nuclear arms.

Israeli had been on high alert since Hamas militants blew up large sections of the Gaza-Egypt border wall on Jan. 23. The border breach, aimed at easing an Israeli and Egyptian blockade of Gaza, allowed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to cross into Egypt unchecked.

Egypt to reseal the border only on Sunday. Egyptian officials had no immediate comment on the Dimona bombing.

Israel's desert border with Egypt is mostly open, with few obstacles. In contrast, a large fence complex separates Gaza from Israel.

In a telephone interview, Abu Fouad, a spokesman for the al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, said the attackers sneaked into Egypt after the border breach, then crossed into Israel using unspecified "private contacts."

He also claimed the group had more militants inside Israel waiting to strike.

Yellow Fatah flags flew outside the home of one of the attackers, 22-year-old Luay Laghwani, and al Aqsa gunmen fired in the air in tribute to him. His sobbing mother, Ibtissam, held up a picture of him as a young teenager, while male relatives scolded her for crying, saying she should be proud.

The previous suicide bombing in Israel occurred on Jan. 29 last year when a Palestinian attacker entered Israel from Egypt, killing three Israelis in Eilat.