Explosion hits Israeli bus stop

At least one person was killed and 21 others wounded when an explosion ripped through a Tel Aviv bus stop early today, police said.

Tel Aviv police chief Yossi Sedbon said the bombing had apparently been carried out by Palestinian militants, although he said it had not been a suicide bombing.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a Palestinian militant group loosely linked to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the attack, Israel Radio reported.

The blast came two days after the UN world court ruled that Israel’s West Bank separation barrier – meant to block Palestinian militants from entering the country – is illegal. Palestinian militants have not successfully carried out an attack inside Israel in more than three months.

Mr Sedbon said the explosives had been planted on the side of the road and went off as a bus stood nearby. The blast blew out the windows of the bus, he said.

“I heard the explosion and I saw the hysteria,” Shlomi Ben-Abu, a witness, told Army Radio. “A woman soldier flew across my view. That’s what I saw. It was not on a bus. It was at a bus stop.”

Al Aqsa said the attack was in revenge for Israeli army operations in the West Bank city of Nablus. Israel recently killed the group’s top commander in the city.

“This says that we can reach every place, even when there is a fence,” a spokesman said.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was scheduled to meet with his Cabinet later today to discuss the world court decision.

The court issued a sweeping condemnation of the barrier, saying it violates international law and that Israel should compensate Palestinians harmed by the structure.

The decision was non-binding, but the Palestinians hope to use the decision to build international opposition at the UN against Israel.

Israel did not recognise the court’s jurisdiction in the case and said it will continue building the barrier, which it says has been a key reason for a dramatic slowdown in attacks in recent months. About one quarter of the planned 425-mile structure is complete.

UN Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, in New York to discuss the aftermath of the court decision, condemned the attack “in the strongest terms”, a spokeswoman said. “He urges the Palestinian Authority to deploy all its efforts to put an end to terror.”