Explosion in Israel kills one, injures 15

At least 15 people have been injured in an explosion at a restaurant in near Tel Aviv.

Israel Army Radio says one person, believed to be a suicide bomber, has been killed.

The blast happened in Herzliya.

Police and ambulances raced to the scene. Rescue services spokesman Doron Kotler says about 15 people were injured, and all had been taken to hospitals. Arriving at the scene, Kotler said he could see many tables overturned.

The explosion ripped through a restaurant at the corner of Socolov and Ben Gurion streets in Herzliya, Israel Radio says.

The attack took place in the downtown part of the city. One of the suburbs of the city, called Herzliya Pituach, is the location of the homes of many ambassadors to Israel.

The bombing took place despite tight Israeli restrictions on movement in the West Bank. Israeli forces have encircled main Palestinian population centres, preventing Palestinians from moving freely around the West Bank, attempting to stop the infiltration by attackers.

Last Wednesday, a Palestinian teenager drove a car bomb from the northern West Bank town of Jenin onto a main Israeli highway and blew up a bus, killing himself and 17 Israelis, most of them Israeli soldiers.

The attack led to renewed pressure on the Israeli government to expedite construction of a fence to separate Israel and the West Bank.