A suicide bomber blew himself apart at a cafe in the Israeli coastal of Netanya today, injuring at least 26 people but killing no one but himself, Israeli police said.
One of the injured, a man who tried to tackle the bomber as he headed for the London cafe, was in critical condition. Five others were listed as serious.
The suicide bomber detonated an explosive charge packed with nails that he was carrying at the entrance to the cafe, where four soldiers were standing, witnesses said.
The blast blew out the window of the cafe but failed to cause more damage after the presence of security officials - either the soldiers or a private guard - apparently prevented him from entering the building, they added.
Shortly before the blast the head of military intelligence, General Aharon Zeevi, had warned ministers at a weekly cabinet meeting of the heightened risk of suicide bombings by Palestinian hardline groups in protest at the US-led war in Iraq, public radio said.
The blast was claimed in a phone call to the AFP news agency in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, by the hardline Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, which has carried out many of the suicide bombings in the 30-month conflict with Israel.
Palestinian minister Saeb Erakat said that the Palestinian Authority "condemns any attack on civilians, Palestinians or Israelis."
The explosion was the first suicide bombing in Israel since March 5th, when a Hamas bomber killed 17 people on a bus in the northern port city of Haifa. Most of the victims were school children.
AFP