Suicide bomber kills Tel Aviv woman

TEL AVIV, Israel -- An Israeli bus driver and a doctor pinned a Palestinian suicide bomber to the ground Thursday after spotting his bomb belt, then fled with other bystanders before the man detonated the explosives. The assailant and an elderly woman were killed, and four people were injured.\nThere was no immediate claim of responsibility. The Islamic militant group Hamas has said it would avenge an Israeli raid of the Gaza town of Khan Younis this week in which 16 Palestinians were killed.\nMeanwhile, two Palestinian boys, ages 12 and 17, were killed in an exchange of fire between Israeli soldiers and local gunmen in the Gaza Strip. The deaths brought to 20 the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza this week.\nAlso Thursday, thousands of armed police officers and militiamen marched in Gaza City in the funeral procession of a police colonel who was killed earlier this week by Hamas gunmen.\nIt was the biggest display of firepower in years, and seen as a warning to the Islamic militant group to end its challenge of Yasser Arafat's government. The killing of the colonel in a feud had triggered bloody clashes between police and Hamas members that claimed the lives of five Hamas supporters, including that of a 17-year-old boy who died Thursday of earlier injuries.\nIn the suicide attack, the bomber tried to board a bus crowded with soldiers at a stop near the Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak just before 8 a.m. But he slipped and fell onto the sidewalk, apparently pulled back by the weight of the explosives.\nThe driver, Baruch Neuman, said he got off the bus to help the man, still unaware he was carrying explosives. A doctor also approached to help.\nThe driver said he and the doctor held down the bomber, while a woman paramedic opened the bomber's shirt to check for injuries. The woman spotted the bomb belt, made of white cotton, with wires going down to the legs.\nAs the bus' passengers and bystanders on the street fled, the two men pinned the bomber by the arms and Neuman spoke to the bomber, asking him about his motives and assuring him he would not be hurt if he stopped resisting. The bomber, apparently in shock, did not respond.\nNeuman, who was unarmed, said he and the doctor let go of the bomber because the assailant, who had been passive, began to struggle and they feared for their lives. "We made the decision together to let go of the arms, and to flee together," Neuman said.\nThe bomber got up and ran for about 30 yards toward a group of people at the bus stop. "I saw the terrorist run after us and then I heard the explosion," said a bystander, 45-year-old supermarket cashier Niri Salam.\nA 71-year-old Israeli woman was killed and four people were wounded, police said. About a dozen others were treated for shock.\nMany of the bus passengers were soldiers, and it was not immediately clear why they did not take action against the assailant before he blew himself up.\nIt marked the second time in three weeks that the Tel Aviv area was targeted. On Sept. 19, a Hamas activist blew himself up on a Tel Aviv bus, killing five Israelis.\nThe pace of suicide attacks has slowed since June when Israeli troops reoccupied most West Bank towns, in response to two deadly bombings in Jerusalem. However, even with the heavy military presence, including curfews that confine hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to their homes, Israel has been unable to seal its frontier with the West Bank.