A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a central Jerusalem shopping street today, killing at least three people and wounding more than 40, police said.
The bombing, the latest of a string to hit Israeli cities, caused Israel to cancel a meeting Palestinian officials planned for this evening.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a group linked to Palestinian President Mr Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the mid-afternoon bombing and identified the bomber by name, a Lebanese television station run by the Hizbollah group said.
The Israeli Magen David Adom ambulance service said in addition to the dead, at least 43 people were injured, six of them seriously.
The blast occurred at a major commercial junction between a clothing shop and a confectionery store, about one km from the luxury hotel where US special Middle East envoy Mr Anthony Zinni is staying.
Metal screws and nails from the explosion were hurled many metres into the bustling streets.
The terrorist apparently went to a street or a corner where there were no police, set off an explosives belt attached to his waist. It was a large bomb packed with shrapnel, said Jerusalem police chief Mr Mickey Levy.
He said police had detained for questioning a large number of suspects in the area, including Arabs who had been wounded.
Police snipers quickly deployed on rooftops as Army Radio cited a serious alert of a second bomb in the vicinity. Police were clearing everyone out for fear of another explosion.