A woman was killed today and six other people were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the southern Israeli town of Dimona.
Police said they killed a second attacker before he had a chance to detonate his explosives belt. The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades later said it had carried out the bombing with a smaller faction.
It was the first suicide blast in Israeli in a year, and officials were investigating whether the attacker came in through Egypt after Palestinian militants breached the Gaza-Egypt border last month.
Government officials dismissed claims that the Dimona nuclear reactor was the target of the attackers. The explosion took place in an industrial area about 10 kilometres from the reactor.
Southern Israel has been on alert against militant attacks since the Gaza Strip's Islamic Hamas rulers breached the border with Egypt on January 23rd. Egypt resealed the border yesterday.
The breach made Israel's Negev desert, where Dimona is located, more vulnerable by Palestinian militants who could enter through Egypt's porous border.