3 Dead In Israel Bombing

Blast In Town Of Rishon Letzion Believed To Be Suicide Attack

(CBS)  A bomb exploded Wednesday evening in Rishon Letzion, south of Tel Aviv, police said. CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger reports three people were killed, apparently including the suicide bomber, and about 20 were injured.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for Wednesday's suicide bombing.

"Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades carried out a heroic martyrdom attack in the settlement of Rishon Letzion north of Tel Aviv," said a statement faxed by the group to Reuters in Beirut. "We swear we shall avenge the blood of innocent martyrs and there shall be more martyrdom operations."

The bomb went off on Rothschild Street on a pedestrian mall in the middle of the city, nine miles south of Tel Aviv. The explosion occurred near a small park where immigrants from the former Soviet Union gather each evening to play cards.

"I saw people lying on the street and lots of blood," said an eyewitness.

City official David Elimelech told Israel TV that the place where the bomber struck was an open area with a thin roof, where people gathered to play cards. He said 12 to 15 people were there. "It's a miracle that it was in an open place," he said.

Explosions inside buildings have caused much heavier casualties in the past.

On May 7, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a pool hall in the same city, killing 15 Israelis and himself.

"This was another cowardly act of terror committed by Palestinian terrorists who have once again resorted to their murderous deeds," David Baker, an official in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, said. "Israel will not buckle under in the face of terror and we will use whatever measures are needed to root it out."

However, Israel is not expected to launch a major retaliatory strike, reports Berger. Instead, it will continue with pinpoint raids in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The last bomb attack was in the coastal city of Netanya on Sunday, killing three people plus the Palestinian bomber and wounding dozens.

On Monday, a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a northern Israeli junction, killing only himself.

An attack on March 27 that killed 28 people set off Israel's large-scale military operation into the West Bank, aimed at rooting out "terrorist infrastructure." During the operation, which wound-down this month, Israel took control of main towns and refugee camps and fought battles with Palestinian gunmen and bombers.

Yasser Arafat is under pressure to reign in militants and put an end to the terror that has taken the lives of scores of Israelis over the last 19 months. The Palestinian leader condemned the May 7 attack and called on his security forces to halt attacks against Israeli civilians.

Then, Israel prepared for a retaliatory strike in Gaza, the home base of the militant group Hamas. Tanks and reservists were sent to the Palestinian territory that lies northwest of Egypt and southeast of Israel. But the operation was postponed due to American pressure and leaks detailing elements of the planned incursion.

But Palestinian officials were quick to point out that the operation had not been canceled and Israeli media speculated after Wednesday's blast that a military operation in Gaza could go forth now as planned.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was at his private farm in the southern part of the country, where he was receiving updates about the attack, Israel TV reported.

Since Israeli-Palestinian violence erupted in September 2000, there have been nearly 60 suicide bombings.