Suicide bomber kills four in Tel Aviv

A suicide bomber carrying 20lbs of explosives blew himself up in a crowd of Israelis queuing outside a nightclub near Tel Aviv’s beachfront promenade, killing at least four people, wounding dozens and shattering an unofficial Middle East truce.

The area was crowded with young Israelis last night, with 20 to 30 people waiting to get into the Stage club in Herbert Samuel Street, close to the promenade.

“I was near the club. There were about 20 people outside. Suddenly, there was an enormous explosion,” said a witness, identified only as Tsahi.

Tel Aviv police chief David Tzur said security guards outside the club spotted the bomber and did not allow him in. “The impact, if he would have gone inside, would have been tragic,” he said.

He said four people were killed and dozens wounded. Israeli media said more than 50 people were wounded, many of them seriously.

There were conflicting reports of who was behind the attack. Initial reports said Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. But the group, as well as other militant groups Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, all issued denials.

Palestinian security officials said the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has been trying to disrupt the ceasefire, orchestrated the blast.

The officials said they had tracked recent communications between Hezbollah militant Kais Obeid and an unnamed Palestinian, whom they believed was the attacker.

But a Hezbollah official in Beirut denied involvement. “As far as we are concerned, there is no need to respond to such lies that we have become used to it,” the official said.

Israel army radio said the attacker was packed with 20lbs of explosives. The blast ripped off the front of the nightclub, shattering windows of nearby restaurants and blackening nearby cars.

Dozens of ambulances and rescue workers pored through the scene and police scoured the balconies of nearby buildings recovering evidence from the blast. Several covered bodies and a pool of blood lay on the ground.

A shopkeeper, who identified himself only as Shlomo, said the blast was so powerful that it knocked a row of bottles off a shelf on to his head. “Immediately we knew it was an attack. It’s a terrible feeling. We saw the people scattered all over,” he said.

The explosion shattered several weeks of calm. At a summit at the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on February 8, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon called for a halt to violence, pledging to break the four-year cycle of bloodshed and get peace talks back on track.

The two largest and most powerful Palestinian militant groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have so far refused to officially join a ceasefire, but have pledged to maintain the fragile calm.

The radical Palestinian factions are expected to hold talks with Egyptian officials next week on the ceasefire with Israel, a senior Hamas official said.

Israeli officials indicated that the blast would not derail the tentative peace efforts. But it put heavy pressure on Abbas to take action against militants.

Gideon Ezra, the Israeli public security minister, called on the Palestinians “to do much more to prevent such attacks”. But he said contacts with the Palestinians should continue.

Israel has so far welcomed Abbas’ efforts to persuade militants to halt violence. But it wants the Palestinian leader to begin to take steps to dismantle militant groups.

“What we need now is action and not words,” said Gideon Meir, a senior Foreign Ministry official.

It was the first suicide bombing since Israel and the Palestinians declared the informal ceasefire, meant to end more than four years of fighting. It also was the first suicide attack since a bomber killed two people in a Tel Aviv market on November 1.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian peace negotiator, condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms”.

“Whoever is behind it is seriously attempting to sabotage all efforts being exerted to revive the peace process and should not be allowed to succeed,” he said.

The Tel Aviv promenade has been hit before by Palestinian militants, including explosions outside the Dolphinarium disco and Mike’s Place, a popular pub.

Abbas pledged today to track down those responsible for the suicide bombing, after an emergency meeting with his security chiefs.

“The Palestinian Authority will not stand silent in the face of this act of sabotage. We will follow and track down those responsible and they will be punished accordingly,” said a statement issued by Abbas.

“What happened was an act of sabotage towards the peace process and an attempt to ruin the efforts to establish a state of calm.”

A senior Palestinian militant group commander claimed today that Hezbollah hired a Palestinian from the northern West Bank to carry out last night's suicide bombing.

The militant, a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, said Hezbollah sponsored the attack. The Al Aqsa group is loosely tied to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.

Al Aqsa has largely honoured Abbas’ efforts to maintain the ceasefire with Israel. But elements of the militant group, comprising many autonomous cells, are widely believed by Israeli and Palestinian officials to receive orders and funding from Hezbollah.