Student of English carried out suicide attack

Hiba Daraghmeh, the 19-year-old English literature student who blew herself up outside an Israeli shopping centre on Monday, was a child of the Palestinian intifada: a devout Muslim obsessed with the politics of her people's struggle.

As well as covering her head and enveloping herself in a long dress, she began to wear a white veil - a badge of fundamentalism abandoned by most Palestinian women - two years ago while in school. She continued to cover her face when she went to study at Al Quds University in east Jerusalem.

Her aunt, Abla Daraghmeh, told The Independent last night: "I am proud of her, though I'm sad that she's dead."

Israeli troops yesterday arrested Hiba's parents, Azem and Fatima, in the West Bank town of Tubas and took them to identify her shattered body. They were released last night and ordered by the army to clear their house, which Israel planned to demolish.