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| Suicide bomber kills three in Israeli resort | | | EILAT (ISRAEL) | Jan 29
A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a bakery in Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat today, killing three people in the first such attack in the Jewish state in nine months.
The bombing came amid tentative attempts to jumpstart the Middle East peace process and was roundly condemned by the European Union, the White House and the United Nations.
The radical Islamic Jihad and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed joint responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out by 21-year-old Mohammed Faisal al-Siksek, 21, from Gaza City.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed that Israel would continue a "battle without respite against the terrorists and their commanders."
The powerful blast ripped through the tiny Lehamim Bakery in a residential neighbourhood of Eilat at 9:40 am (1310 IST), shattering windows and shaking nearby houses in what police initially said was an accident.
"I saw bits of flesh flying through the air. I saw a hand on the ground. I couldn't move. My whole body froze. I was shaking. Bits of flesh were on my T-shirt," said Muriel Zohar, 39, who was on her way to the bakery at the time.
The bakery owner and two employees were killed in addition to the bomber, who had gone into the shop carrying the explosives in a backpack, police said.
Rescuers dressed in all-white suits collected human remains outside the bakery hours after the blast, which destroyed the inside of the building and blew out windows of a car parked nearby.
It was the first attack inside Israel since April when 11 people were killed in Tel Aviv in a suicide bombing claimed by Islamic Jihad.
The ruling Islamist movement Hamas, which has not claimed an attack in Israel for nearly two years, said the bombing was a "natural response to the occupier's crimes against our people."
"It is the Zionist enemy who is responsible for the deteriorating situation among the Palestinians. The resistance is entitled to defend the Palestinian people," said Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan.
The bombing came against a backdrop of deadly factional fighting between Hamas and president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, with 33 people killed in internecine bloodletting in the past four days.
Security was stepped up as Israeli authorities -- which have for years imposed strict restrictions on Palestinians travelling into the Jewish state -- investigated how the bomber managed to reach Eilat, which lies on the southernmost tip of Israel on the border with Egypt and Jordan.
Roadblocks were set up outside Eilat, and Israel announced that the Taba border crossing into Egypt's Sinai peninsula was closed.
A spokesman for Islamic Jihad said the assailant had travelled to Eilat via Jordan, but Amman denied the report, saying the bomber had never entered the kingdom.
A top aide to Abbas, Yasser Abed Rabbo, slammed the bombing: "We reject these acts and we do not believe that they are in the interest of the Palestinian cause and that they blacken the image of the Palestinian people.
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