Suicide attack in Tel Aviv kills 3

TEL AVIV, Israel -- Two suicide bombers blew themselves up seconds apart in downtown Tel Aviv Wednesday night, killing three civilians and wounding more than 40, police and witnesses said.\nThe attack took place between a cafe and a theater in a rundown neighborhood where many foreign workers live, and Israel Radio said most of the casualties were workers from abroad.\nThe group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombings, according to the Al Manar TV station in Lebanon. Israel blamed the Palestinian Authority, led by Yasser Arafat.\nThe suicide bombers were standing only 15 to 20 yards from each other when they set off the explosions in an area crowded with small shops and stalls, police said.\nThey said three civilians and the two bombers died and more than 40 people were wounded. Police earlier said the death toll was higher.\nDutzu Raduyan, a worker from Romania, said he heard an explosion, and the lights in his nearby apartment went out.\n"Moments later we heard the second explosion. I went down" to the street, he said. "It was horrible, dead people were everywhere and the injured were screaming. I've never seen such a thing in my life." Shaken, he said he would take his family back to Romania.\nAbout 300,000 foreigners work in Israel, replacing to a large extent the Palestinian laborers who have been barred from entering since the outbreak of fighting\nWith Israel's economy in a slump, employers welcome the cheap migrant workers, most of whom are in the country illegally and are willing to work long hours for less than minimum wage.\nEarlier Wednesday evening, an Israeli warplane bombed a metal workshop in the Gaza Strip, while in the West Bank, Israeli forces swept through Palestinian areas, arresting a senior Hamas militant and killing three Palestinians.\nIn the Amari refugee camp next to Ramallah in the West Bank, two Palestinian boys, ages 6 and 14, were killed in an explosion. Palestinian security officials said they picked up an explosive and it went off.\nNear Qalqiliya, Israeli soldiers spotted two Palestinians trying to infiltrate into Israel. They shot and killed one of the Palestinians and started searching for the other, Israeli military sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.\nThe renewed violence came as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was considering appointing a prime minister to take over daily affairs, a Palestinian Cabinet minister said, a way of responding to Israeli and U.S. demands that Arafat be replaced.\nIn a manhunt for Palestinians who ambushed a bus near the Jewish settlement of Emmanuel a day before and killed eight people, including two babies, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian gunman in an exchange of fire in which an Israeli army officer was killed and three soldiers wounded. After nightfall Wednesday, the search was still in progress.\nIn Ramallah, Israeli forces arrested the overall commander of the Hamas military wing, Mohammed Natsheh, Israeli media reported. Palestinian security and the Israeli military refused to comment.\nIsraeli forces in armored vehicles entered the West Bank village of Silat Dahir, near the town of Jenin, exchanging fire with militants and making arrests. Palestinians said two men were killed.\nAn Israeli warplane bombed a Gaza metalworks factory after nightfall Wednesday, witnesses and the Israeli military said. The Israelis said the factory was used to manufacture weapons for the violent Islamic Hamas.\nThe factory was at the entrance to the Mughazi refugee camp in central Gaza. Witness Hassan Jabber, 40, said several Israeli F-16 warplanes circled over the area, and then one of them dropped a bomb on the factory, causing a huge explosion.\nPalestinians said there were no casualties, but considerable damage was caused.\nIn a statement, the Israeli military said the factory was used to manufacture mortar bombs and rockets for Hamas. "Because of the increase in firing mortars in recent days, the factory was bombed as part of the war against terrorist infrastructure," the statement said.\nMeanwhile, Israelis buried five of the eight people killed in the Tuesday ambush outside the Jewish settlement of Emmanuel, between the Palestinian towns of Nablus and Qalqiliya. Palestinians set off a powerful bomb, stopping an armored bus, and then opened fire on the passengers and threw grenades. Among the dead were an 8-month-old baby, her father and grandmother.\nDoctors desperately tried to save Yehudit Weinberg's baby, but failed. Eight months pregnant, she was shot seven times in the abdomen and legs. Doctors delivered her baby by emergency Caesarean section, but he had no pulse because of his mother's loss of blood, doctors said, and he died a few hours later.\nPalestinian Cabinet Minister Nabil Shaath said that Arafat was considering appointing a prime minister to handle day-to-day matters after Palestinian elections next year and after a Palestinian state is created.\nIsrael and the United States have declared a personal boycott against Arafat, charging that his regime is tainted with terrorism and corruption. Israel has suggested that Arafat remain as a ceremonial president while turning power over to others. U.S. officials also gave positive indications about the idea of Arafat's appointing a prime minister.