Suicide attack in Israel a gift to Iraq, says militant group

AN Islamic militant blew himself up in a crowded pedestrian mall in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya yesterday, wounding 30 bystanders in the first such attack in nearly a month.

The militant Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it “a gift from Palestine to the heroic people of Iraq”.

“Iraq, we heed your call,” Islamic Jihad said in a statement, adding that “it is one war from Najaf to Tulkarem and from Jenin to Baghdad,” referring to Palestinian West Bank towns as well as the Iraqi cities.