British citizen behind suicide pub bombing, says Israel

THE man who carried out yesterday's suicide bombing at a Tel Aviv beachfront pub was a British citizen, as was an additional terrorist who managed to flee when his explosive device did not detonate, Israeli media reported last night.

The British man who managed to escape, after scuffling with bystanders at the pub, was named as Omar Khan Shariff.

Police are requesting the public's help in locating him, reported newspaper Haaretz.

The suicide attack killed three bystanders hours before the new Palestinian prime minister was sworn in a ceremony that cleared the way for a Mideast peace plan.

The bombing underscored the difficulties Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas will face in disarming Palestinian militias a key obligation in the first stage of the three-phase "road map" to Palestinian statehood that is to be unveiled by Washington in the coming days.

A militia tied to Abbas' own Fatah movement claimed responsibility, along with the Islamic militant group Hamas. A spokesman for the Fatah-linked militia, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, said the attack was a message to the new prime minister that "nobody can disarm the resistance movements without a political solution".

Arriving at the West Bank headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news web sites) ahead of his swearing-in ceremony, Abbas said: "We condemn this attack strongly."

The bomber struck on Tel Aviv's seaside promenade at about 1am, blowing himself up outside Mike's Place, a pub and restaurant popular with foreigners and just a few yards from the heavily guarded US embassy.

A security guard stopped the bomber at the entrance to the crowded pub. The guard was badly wounded.

The pub's owner, Gal Ganzman, his shirt covered with blood, said he was standing behind the bar when he heard the explosion. "I'm alive, I'm fine," he said. "One of the waitresses lost an arm but she's still alive."

Three bystanders and the bomber were killed, and 55 people wounded. Twenty people remained hospitalised yesterday, including six who were in a serious condition.

t was the 89th suicide bombing targeting Israelis in the past 31 months. Since September 2000, 2,287 people have been killed on the Palestinian side, and 763 people on the Israeli side.

US State Department spokeswoman Nancy Beck said: "There can be no excuse for the violence and terrorist attacks the Israeli people have been forced to endure." She said the US goal is a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside Israel.

In other violence yesterday , Israeli troops shot and killed an unarmed Palestinian near the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. On Tuesday night, two armed Palestinians were shot dead by settlers after they opened fire on a small outpost near the West Bank settlement of Elon Moreh.

In Gaza, the army said it fired on the Palestinian after spotting someone crawling near an army post in an area that is off-limits to Palestinians. The man was not identified.

In the settler attack, the army said the two Palestinians were armed with hand grenades and assault rifles. The radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack.

Abbas' swearing-in ceremony at Arafat's compound underscored Arafat's continuing influence despite US and Israeli efforts to sideline him. In a reminder of that power, Arafat's office announced yesterday that it was naming Erekat as head of the negotiation department for the PLO, a position formerly held by Abbas.

The United States and Israel have been boycotting Arafat, whom they accuse of abetting terrorism, and have welcomed the appointment of Abbas.

Tuesday's 51-18 parliament vote in favour of Abbas, with three abstentions, capped six weeks of wrangling in which Arafat objected to Abbas appointments.