A suicide bomber detonated a belt of explosives outside a shopping mall in the northern Israeli town of Afula, killing three people and wounding 47 others.
According to eyewitnesses, the bomber aroused the suspicion of the security guard at the back entrance to the Shaarei Amakim mall. When the guard refused to allow the bomber inside, she detonated the charge.
A crowd of shoppers was reportedly nearby waiting to go through security checks to enter the mall. Two shoppers and a security guard were killed.
Fox News reports the Palestinian woman, 19-year-old Hiba Daraghmeh, was wearing high heels and a miniskirt in an atempt to look like a Jewish settler.
According to Israel National News, Israeli troops and police forces combed the area and set up roadblocks around Afula to search for accomplices.
The Islamic Jihad terror group and the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, the military wing of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah party, claimed responsibility for the attack.
“The Palestinian terrorists have clearly chosen an agenda of murder and terror. It’s obvious that despite Israel’s effort to make progress and pursue a path of dialogue, Palestinian terrorists have chosen to strike at Israel’s citizens at any and every opportunity,” the Ha’aretz quoted David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the bombing.
“We reject this [suicide attacks] because they harm us politically and morally and don’t represent the Palestinian position,” Labor Minister Ghassan Khatib told the paper.
The bombing in Afula marks the fifth terror attack against Israelis in 48 hours.
Earlier today, a 19-year-old Palestinian riding a bicycle detonated a bomb next to a military jeep in the southern Gaza Strip, injuring three Israeli soldiers.
Yesterday, twin attacks targeted commuter buses. A suicide bomber disguised as a religious Jew wearing a skullcap and a prayer shawl, blew himself up in front of a commuter bus during rush hour in Jerusalem, killing seven people and wounding 21. Minutes later, another suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt but killed only himself at a nearby roadblock. He was apparently apprehended as he tried to board a bus.
The bus attacks happened just hours after Sharon held historic talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas.
The talks were earlier marred by a Palestinian suicide attack in the West Bank city of Hebron Saturday night. An attacker also dressed as a religious Jew killed an Israeli settler and his pregnant wife.
The military wing of the Islamic movement Hamas claimed responsibility for four of the attacks.
“We will not stop our resistance as long as one Zionist continues to breathe our air,” the group said in a statement faxed to Ha’aretz.
The rash of terror attacks prompted Sharon to postpone a trip to Washington to meet with President George W. Bush. Sharon was due to discuss his reservations about the Mideast peace “road map” which lays out benchmarks for the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005. As WorldNetDaily reported, Hamas vowed to sabotage the blueprint on April 30, the day it was unveiled to Sharon and Abbas.
Bush remains resolute.
“We’re still on the road to peace, it’s just going to be a bumpy road, and I’m not going to get off the road until we reach the vision,” he told reporters at a news conference.
He said it was “sad and pathetic” that some “cannot stand the thought of peace.”
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