Suicide bomber targets Israeli restaurant

A suicide bomber blew himself up on the patio of a restaurant near the Israeli coastal town of Haifa today, wounding up to 20 people.

The bombing followed a Palestinian suicide attack last Thursday at a Jerusalem pizzeria that killed 15 and wounded about 100.

In that incident, the assailant went inside and his bomb sprayed shrapnel and nails throughout the densely packed restaurant.

Today's bomber set off his explosives on the patio, shredding an awning, overturning tables and chairs at the Wall Street Cafe.

The force of the blast was less powerful than if it had taken place inside, and almost all the injuries were light, police and rescue workers said in Kiryat Motzkin, a suburb north of Haifa, about 50 miles north of Tel Aviv.

Wall Street Cafe owner Aharon Roseman said he saw the bomber approach and light a fuse strapped to his body.

"I grabbed a chair and threw it at him, and ran behind a wall, and that's what saved me," he said.

Islamic Jihad said its activist Muhammad Nasser, 28, carried out the attack. Nasser had worked for the Palestinian security forces until he left six weeks ago.

Since then, "he said often that he wanted to become a martyr," Nasser's father, Mahmoud, said at the family home in Qabatya, in the northern West Bank.

"Our fighter was able to penetrate into the heart of Zionism with all the security measures," said Islamic Jihad leader Sheik Abdullah Shami.

"We will continue our fight, our struggle, our operations until we reach our goal of complete freedom."