A suicide bomber has detonated a bomb in a crowded beach restaurant in the Israeli city of Haifa today, killing at least 18 people and wounding nearly thirty.
Police say a gunman was also involved in the attack, but the circumstances are not immediately clear.
The attack targeted the popular Maxim restaurant on Haifa's beach promenade on the southern edge of the city.
Police said the blast was set off by a suicide bomber, who had explosives strapped to his body. Police said 18 people were killed and about two dozen more were wounded.
The attack came despite a blanket closure Israel had imposed on the West Bank and Gaza Strip ahead of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, which begins at sundown Sunday and ends at sundown Monday.
Such closures are generally imposed during Jewish holidays because of increased concerns about attacks by Palestinian militants in such periods.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, the first suicide bombing since twin attacks killed 15 people on September 9, near an army base outside Tel Aviv and at a Jerusalem coffee shop.
Since fighting broke out three years ago, more than 400 Israelis have been killed in 103 Palestinian suicide bombings.
David Baker, an official in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office, said Israel demands that the Palestinian Authority take immediate steps against militant groups.
"The bombing in Haifa is another indication that the Palestinian Authority continues to refuse to take even minimal steps against the terrorist infrastructure," he said.