Four die in suicide blast

A Palestinian suicide bomber struck in the Israeli resort town of Netanya yesterday, killing three Israelis in a market. More than 50 others were wounded, 10 of them seriously.

A Palestinian suicide bomber struck in the Israeli resort town of Netanya yesterday, killing three Israelis in a market. More than 50 others were wounded, 10 of them seriously.

Israel suspects the assailant slipped across the West Bank border from Tulkarm, four miles to the east. He disguised himself in Israeli army uniform to enter the market. Police said the attacker and another man were killed in the fruit market and two others died in hospital.

Two Palestinian organisations, Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility. Israeli intelligence sources alleged that the Popular Front leader, Ahmad Sa'adat, had ordered the attack from Jericho, where he is being held.

The attack raised the prospect of Israeli retaliation and tanks were reported to be moving into Ramallah yesterday.

Earlier today a second suicide bomber exploded in northern Israel, killing himself but no others, police said.

A police spokesman said a paramilitary border patrol approached a suspicious person, who detonated explosives he was carrying on his body before he could be apprehended.