Woman dies in terror attack in Israel

A suicide bomber has killed a woman in the Israeli town of Dimona, the first such attack in over a year, the BBC said. Israeli investigators were checking whether the attacker came via Egypt after Palestinian militants breached the Gaza-Egypt border last month. Woman dies in terror attack in Israel Police said a second suicide attacker was shot dead before he was able to detonate his explosives belt. Responsibility was claimed by the Army of Palestine group, of the pro-Fatah group the al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades. The explosion happened in a commercial center a few kilometers from the Dimona base which houses Israel's top-secret nuclear reactor. "We heard a large explosion and people started to run. I saw pieces of flesh flying in the air," a witness told army radio. Thousands of Palestinians poured out of the Gaza Strip unchecked when the Egypt-Gaza border was breached by the territory's de facto rulers Hamas on January 23. The border was resealed on Sunday by Egyptian forces. Rare attack Analysts said towns in the Negev desert, where Dimona is located, would be the most vulnerable if Palestinian attackers entered Israel from Egypt through the open border across the Sinai desert. However, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade emailed news organizations said it had sent attackers from the West Bank town of Ramallah to carry out the "heroic martyrdom bombing in Dimona". A Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, said the attack was "a natural reaction to months of killing" of Palestinians by the Israeli army. Hamas also rejected suggestions that the bombing would hurt its chances of reopening the border with Egypt. Israel was pummelled by series of suicide bombings in the 1990s and 2000s, peaking after the Palestinian intifada or uprising broke out in 2000. However, there were only two such attacks between April 2006 and now, the last being in January 2007 when a bomber blew himself up in a bakery in Eilat, killing three people. Monday's blast is also the first since renewed efforts to come to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal were launched with U.S. support last November. Israel argues that its blockade of about 4 million Palestinians in Gaza and large parts of the occupied West Bank is necessary to prevent such attacks.

Woman dies in terror attack in Israel

Police said a second suicide attacker was shot dead before he was able to detonate his explosives belt.

Responsibility was claimed by the Army of Palestine group, of the pro-Fatah group the al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades.

The explosion happened in a commercial center a few kilometers from the Dimona base which houses Israel's top-secret nuclear reactor.

"We heard a large explosion and people started to run. I saw pieces of flesh flying in the air," a witness told army radio.

Thousands of Palestinians poured out of the Gaza Strip unchecked when the Egypt-Gaza border was breached by the territory's de facto rulers Hamas on January 23. The border was resealed on Sunday by Egyptian forces.

Rare attack

Analysts said towns in the Negev desert, where Dimona is located, would be the most vulnerable if Palestinian attackers entered Israel from Egypt through the open border across the Sinai desert.

However, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade emailed news organizations said it had sent attackers from the West Bank town of Ramallah to carry out the "heroic martyrdom bombing in Dimona".

A Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, said the attack was "a natural reaction to months of killing" of Palestinians by the Israeli army.

Hamas also rejected suggestions that the bombing would hurt its chances of reopening the border with Egypt.

Israel was pummelled by series of suicide bombings in the 1990s and 2000s, peaking after the Palestinian intifada or uprising broke out in 2000.

However, there were only two such attacks between April 2006 and now, the last being in January 2007 when a bomber blew himself up in a bakery in Eilat, killing three people.

Monday's blast is also the first since renewed efforts to come to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal were launched with U.S. support last November.
Israel argues that its blockade of about 4 million Palestinians in Gaza and large parts of the occupied West Bank is necessary to prevent such attacks.