Palestinians braced for retaliation

Hugh Dougherty12 April 2012

Palestinians are today braced for revenge attacks after a suicide bomber disguised as an Israeli soldier killed three people shopping at an outdoor market.

At least 35 people were injured, five of them seriously, in the attack in the seaside resort of Netanya yesterday.

It was followed by a second blast early today in northern Israel in which another suicide bomber killed himself in an explosion at a road junction but caused no other deaths or injuries.

David Baker, spokesman for Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, said: "This campaign of terror continues unabated and so does Israel's daily battle against these terrorists. Israel will know how to respond as it deems fit."

The Netanya attack shattered the fragile sense of security which had begun to emerge in Israel after the end of the country's incursions into the Palestinian-controlled West Bank. The military action began after another blast in Netanya on 27 March destroyed a hotel and killed 29 people. It was the worst of a series of suicide attacks which began in August 2000.

Last week Israel pulled back under heavy international pressure from a planned attack on the Gaza Strip in the wake of another suicide attack in which 15 Israelis died at a snooker club in a town south of Tel Aviv.

The blast in Netanya yesterday afternoon tore through a fruit and vegetable market. Eyewitness Eli Maimon said: "I heard a huge boom and saw body parts flying. He (the bomber) came in an army uniform." Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority condemned what it called "the terrorist operation". The radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility.

The authority has come under increasing pressure, particularly from the United States, to introduce democratic elections and reform its security forces. Israel has demanded urgent reforms as a condition for resuming peace talks.

Palestinians today said several Israeli tanks had moved into Ramallah, the West Bank city where Mr Arafat has his headquarters.

Police in Netanya also revealed they had been warned of an imminent attack and had been on high alert, but the bomber's Israeli army uniform may have helped him slip into the town unnoticed.

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