Suicide Bomber Strikes On West Bank

A Palestinian attacker killed three Israeli soldiers and himself Sunday when his bomb detonated amid a struggle with soldiers at a gas station just outside the West Bank Jewish settlement of Ariel.

The assailant came from the nearby city of Nablus — a city Israel's military has kept under strict curfew for months in an attempt to prevent Palestinian attackers from slipping out and reaching Israeli targets.

In Nablus, Israeli troops shot dead two armed Palestinians several hours after the bomb attack, though the two sides disagreed on the circumstances. The army said soldiers were attempting to make arrests when they came under fire and shot back, killing the pair. Palestinian witnesses said soldiers killed the two men, both known militants, and then fled in an unmarked van.

The latest violence came as the Israelis and Palestinians were attempting to resolve their own political dramas.

The Palestinian legislature, which effectively forced Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to dissolve his Cabinet on Sept. 11, will meet Monday in the West Bank city of Ramallah and decide whether to approve the new proposed Cabinet.

On the Israeli side, a government coalition crisis was brewing. Israel's moderate Labor Party has threatened to reject the government's budget proposal and pull out of the coalition headed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Such a move could lead to a collapse of the coalition.

In the West Bank bombing, the attacker walked or was driven the 10 miles across the rocky hills of the northern West Bank from Nablus to the gas station at the entrance to the settlement of Ariel, one of the largest in the West Bank.

"Suicide terrorist, suicide terrorist," yelled one woman as the bomber made his way from a back entrance of the station toward a group of soldiers.

A gas station attendant and three soldiers jumped on the man, wrestling him to the ground as he prepared to detonate the bomb with a wire he held in his hand, said West Bank police commander Shahar Ayalon.

During the scuffle two Israelis shot at the bomber, hitting him in the head and stomach, according to witnesses. One of the shooters, Shahar Keshet, a student who was filling gas at the station, said the bomb went off when one bullet hit him in the stomach.

Ayalon said only one person shot the bomber and the explosives went off at the same time the bullet hit him. Forensic tests will attempt to determine whether the bomber or the bullets actually detonated the bomb, Ayalon said.

Three soldiers who struggled with the bomber were killed — they included a major, a lieutenant and a warrant officer.

In addition, 20 people were injured, officials said. The gas station attendant who struggled with the bomber was among the seriously injured, police said.

A few hours after the bombing, army officials sat nearby under an ice cream sign, cleaning the blood off a pistol and an M-16 rifle that had been used in the confrontation. Nearby, the black boot of a soldier stuck out from under sheets covering three bodies.

A poster at the gas station read "Ariel's shooting range has reopened" — not a reference to Sunday's events.

Ultra-Orthodox volunteers cleaning up at the scene climbed some eight meters (yards) up a high-tension electrical pole to remove a piece of flesh.

The volunteers rush to each attack to collect remains. Jewish law designates that all body parts must be buried.

The militant Islamic group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack and identified the assailant as Mohammed Bustami, 22, a university student in Nablus. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militia loosely linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, had originally claimed responsibility, but later said the attacker was not from its movement.

The 20,000 residents of Ariel are heavily guarded. Police said the bomber was apparently brought by car to the main road outside the settlement and walked through an olive grove to the gas station. As the largest Israeli community in the area, Ariel's gas station is a transit spot for soldiers, who were on their way to bases at the beginning of the work week.

"Like spectators, the Palestinian Authority stands by and does nothing while Palestinian terrorists continue to wage a campaign of terror against Israeli civilians," said David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office. Israel accuses the Palestinian Authority of refusing to clamp down on militants involved in attacks.

The Palestinian Authority, led by Arafat, has condemned suicide bombings but says its security forces are unable to act against militants since Israel's military actions including the takeover of most Palestinian cities in the West Bank have severely weakened its forces.

"We are against any action, particularly against civilians, whether they be Israeli or Palestinian," said Palestinian Cabinet minister Nabil Shaath.

The Israeli army has moved into the Palestinian areas in an effort to hunt down militants and stop suicide bombings. Almost 300 people have been killed in 80 suicide bombings by Palestinian militants since the fighting began in September 2000.

In other violence Sunday, a 20-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed Sunday while on the roof of his home in the West Bank town of Jenin, Palestinians said. The army said soldiers shot at an armed Palestinian who had broken an army-imposed curfew.

The Israeli army took over Jenin Friday in an effort to track down militants believed behind suicide bombings. Soldiers imposed a curfew and have arrested dozens of Palestinians in searches from house to house.

Also Sunday, Jewish settlers used rifle butts and stones to attack foreigners who were guarding Palestinians harvesting olives in the West Bank village of Yanun, near Nablus.

Two Americans were among those injured, said a release from the International Solidarity Movement. One man, James Deleplain, 74, was hit in the face, back and ribs and Mary Hughes-Thompson, 68, was repeatedly hit in the arms.

Residents of Yanun returned to the village last week after abandoning it days earlier in light of repeated attacks by settlers.