At least 20 people were killed and about 50 injured when a female suicide bomber blew herself up in a restaurant in Haifa on Saturday afternoon.
The attack took place in the "Maxim" restaurant, which was packed at the time of the attack. The restaurant is at the southern entrance to the coastal city and is owned by Israeli Arabs. The restaurant was badly damaged.
Israeli security sources said they believed Islamic Jihad was behind the attack, and that the bomber came from the West Bank city of Jenin.
The blast blew out windows, and others were pockmarked by shrapnel. Walls inside were riddled with holes, wires hung down from the ceiling and clusters of pipes were exposed. Chunks were blown off pillars throughout the restaurant.
The attack came despite a full closure Israel had imposed Friday on the West Bank and Gaza Strip ahead of Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, which starts at sundown Sunday and ends at sundown Monday.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the attack in Haifa and appealed to the quartet of international mediators — the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations — "to exert every possible effort in order to ensure de-escalation, and to maintain the road map" peace plan.
David Baker, an official in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office, said Israel demands that the Palestinian Authority take immediate steps against armed groups.
"The bombing in Haifa is another indication that the Palestinian Authority continues to refuse to take even minimal steps against the terrorist infrastructure," he said, according to The AP.
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
