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Israeli policemen work near two bodies. Photo: Reuters
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The Palestinian Authority has declared a state of emergency in the West Bank and Gaza Strip following a series of suicide and shooting attacks against Israelis over the past 24 hours which have at least 25 people dead and more than 210 others wounded.
The Palestinian leadership today condemned the attacks. Taking unprecedented steps against Palestinian extremists, Palestinian Authority leader Mr Yasser Arafat introduced a scope of measures including the proclamation of a state of emergency.
Mr Arafat's emergency rule augured a crackdown on radical groups who carry out attacks against civilians in Israel, such as those over the weekend, claimed by the armed branch of the extremist Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas.
In three statements posted on its website, the Hamas armed wing - Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades - took responsibility for the three attacks. These including triple bombing in the heart of Jerusalem, a suicide bombing in the northern port city of Haifa, and a shooting attack against Jewish settlers.
In the first attack last night, 10 young people aged between 14 and 20 were killed and more than 170 wounded after two suicide bombers blew themselves up simultaneously in a lively night spot district in central Jerusalem.
The explosions were shortly followed by a car bomb which was aimed at rescue crews and other security services, but no one was injured in that blast.
Some 12 hours later, another suicide bombing in Haifa ripped apart a public bus and seriously damaged another, leaving 16 people dead and another 40 people injured.
Also this morning, two Hamas gunmen ambushed Jewish settlers in the northern Gaza Strip, killing one woman and injuring several others before being gunned down in a firefight with Israeli troops.
Israeli radio said three other Jewish settlers were wounded in the shooting, including a two-year-old child and another woman according to settler sources.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said it was responsible for the operation in Jerusalem, despite an earlier claim of responsibility for that attack by its smaller rival, Islamic Jihad, to the BBC.
Hamas maintained it had the right to "resist against aggression and the continued violation of our nation for more than 50 years."
Israeli troops earlier today swooped on the houses of two Hamas militants suspected of being behind the attacks, according to Israeli radio.
The radio reported the suspects rounded up in the pre-dawn raid were activists from an Islamic college in the Palestinian village of Abu Dis, a hotbed of Palestinian nationalism. Israeli officials had no immediate comment.
AFP