Suicide bomber kills six in Tel Aviv

A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up near a fast food restaurant in a bustling commercial area of Tel Aviv during the Jewish holiday of Passover on Monday, killing six people and wounding at least 35 others, including several seriously, police and medics said.

A security guard posted outside the restaurant, which had been the target of a previous suicide bombing last January, prevented the bomber from entering the building, police said.

Police said seven people including the suicide bomber were killed. Medics said nine of the injured were in serious condition, 12 were hurt moderately and the rest suffered minor wounds.

It was the first suicide bombing in Israel since the Hamas militant group took over the Palestinian government three weeks ago.

The Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the attack. Islamic Jihad made the claim in a phone call to The Associated Press.

The identity of the bomber was not immediately known.

Hamas and other militant groups have been observing a ceasefire with Israel for more than a year, and the new Hamas-led Palestinian leadership condemned today’s attack. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said the suicide bombing was a “terrorist attack“.

In a statement, Abbas said the attack harms the Palestinians’ national interest.

“President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the terrorist attack in the bus station in Tel Aviv that led to the killing and injury of many,” his office said in a statement released by the official Wafa news agency.

Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for all six of the previous suicide attacks inside Israel since the ceasefire was declared.

The bomber struck the same restaurant, The Mayor’s Felafel, that was hit by an attacker on Jan. 19.

In that attack, 20 people were wounded.

The restaurant is in the bustling Neve Shaanan neighbourhood near Tel Aviv’s central bus station which was crowded with holiday travellers.

Police said the restaurant had hired a security guard after the January bombing.

The guard was apparently injured in today’s blast.

A witness, Moussa al Zidat, said the guard at the falafel restaurant asked the apparent bomber the open his bag.

“I saw a young man starting to open his bag. The guard begins opening the bag, and then I heard a boom.”

Another witness, 62-year-old Sonya Levy, said she had just finished shopping when the blast went off.

“I was about to get into my car, and boom, there was an explosion. A bit of human flesh landed on my car and I started to scream,” she said.

Her car was 50 metres from the explosion and its windshield was smeared with blood.

The wounded were treated on pavements. One man was lying on his side, his shirt pushed up and his back covered by bandages. A bleeding woman was wheeled away on a stretcher. A dazed-looking man walked near the site, his white T-shirt splattered with blood.

The blast shattered the windscreens of cars, and blew out the windows of nearby buildings. Glass shards and blood splattered the ground.

The sign of the restaurant’s building was blown away. Bottles and other debris were scattered up to 25 metres from the site of the blast.

While rescue crews tended to the wounded, a helicopter hovered overhead and a two marksmen took up a position on the roof of the targeted building. Teams sifted through debris looking for evidence and body parts.

There was no immediate word from Hamas on the bombing. But Palestinian lawmaker Saeb Erekat of the rival Fatah Party condemned the blast.

“I condemn this attack on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas. We believe this harms Palestinian interests. We urge all Palestinians to abide by the cessation of violence.”

On Sunday, the leader of Islamic Jihad, Ramadan Shallah, said the militant group was making “non-stop efforts” to infiltrate suicide bombers from the West Bank into Israel. “The non-stop crackdown against our resistance might limit this effort, but it’s not going to stop it,” he said in a statement posted on the group’s website.