Seven die in latest Middle East violence

A 15-year-old Israeli girl has died of her injuries in a Palestinian suicide bomb attack at a restaurant in a coastal resort.

In all, violent incidents on Tuesday claimed the lives of six Palestinians and one Israeli, with 12 Israelis wounded.

The bloodshed came as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was winding up a trip to Washington, where he insisted that Palestinians must stop attacks on Israelis before peace talks begin.

In the suicide attack, the bomber blew himself up in a small restaurant in downtown Herzliya, a city north of Tel Aviv. As well as the dead girl, eight other bystanders were hurt.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The Palestinian leadership issued a statement denouncing the attack and saying, "it gives Israel a reason to attack the Palestinian people".

David Baker, an official in Mr Sharon's office, condemned the bombing as "another example of the Palestinians' intention to commit murder for the sake of murder".

Israeli troops, who said they were returning fire, shot dead a nine-year-old Palestinian boy in the Gaza Strip.

In other incidents, two Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip. One was shot dead by Israeli soldiers after he opened fire on a civilian vehicle, the military said. The army said that near the fence between Israel and Gaza, it found the body of a Palestinian who was killed when a bomb he tried to plant exploded.

In the West Bank city of Hebron, Palestinians killed two fellow Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel. The body of one was dragged to the place where a local guerrilla leader was killed in an Israeli helicopter strike in April.

Soldiers in Ramallah arrested about 30 Palestinians on Tuesday, including Abdel Rahim Malouh, second in command of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the radical PLO group that claimed responsibility for the assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister in October.