HAIFA, Israel -- A bomber blew himself up aboard a bus filled with students in this northern Israeli city Wednesday, killing at least 16 people and injuring 55. The blast spread blood-splattered debris throughout a prosperous hilltop neighborhood, ending a two-month lull in suicide bombings.\nPolice identified the bomber as Mahmoud Hamdan Kawasme, 20, of the West Bank city of Hebron, and said he was carrying a letter praising the Sept. 11 attacks. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, and it was not known whether he was affiliated with a militant group.\nThe attack followed the establishment of a new hard-line government in Israel and a government pledge to step up military strikes against militant strongholds in the Gaza Strip. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in more than two weeks of raids, including at least 10 civilians.\nPrime Minister Ariel Sharon called an emergency meeting of senior Cabinet ministers late Wednesday to discuss the bombing.\nBus No. 37 was packed with students from Haifa University when it stopped in the hilltop neighborhood of Carmelia at 2:17 p.m. to let off passengers.\n"I suddenly heard an explosion," said bus driver Marwan Damouni, an Israeli Arab, who was being treated at a hospital. "I tried to move, to see if there were wounded. I couldn't hear anything because of the force."\nThe explosion blew off the bus roof, shattered all its windows and toppled nearby palm trees. Floodlights cast an eerie glow on the scene, illuminating the charred skeleton of the vehicle.\nThe bomb was laden with metal shrapnel for greater deadliness, according to Police Commissioner Shlomo Aharonishki. Crime lab technicians were investigating, but early reports said the blast was caused by 130 pounds of explosives.\nRescue workers and police said they believed one of the 16 dead was the bomber. Dozens were seriously injured, among them passers-by.\nOvadia Saar, who was driving a bus behind the one that was attacked, said he saw "the back of the bus fly into the air, and the windows blew out and a great cloud of dust covered the bus."\n"I got out and ran toward the bus. It was a horrible sight. There were a few bodies in the street," he said. "Those we saw breathing, we evacuated."\nA spokesman for the Islamic militant group Hamas, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, praised the bombing but did not claim responsibility. "We will not stop our resistance," he said. "We are not going to give up in the face of the daily killing" of Palestinians.\nSome Palestinians in Gaza called each other on cell phones, spreading news about the Haifa attack. Some were jubilant.\n"It's about time. They've kept on hitting us and killing us, and now we've struck back," said an ice cream vendor in Gaza, who refused to give his name.\nThe Haifa blast was the first terror attack in Israel since Jan. 5, when a pair of suicide bombers killed 23 people in Tel Aviv.\nThere have been 87 suicide attacks in Israel in 29 months of violence that has left 2,160 people dead on the Palestinian side and 743 on the Israeli side. The violence ended talks on a final peace settlement and helped Sharon win re-election.\nIn the past, Israel has reacted with tough military measures after such attacks and has blamed Yasser Arafat, saying the Palestinian Authority does nothing to prevent terrorism.\n"Once again the bestial hand of Palestinian terrorism has struck at the heart of Israel," said Mark Sofer, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, adding that Israeli forces had thwarted almost 100 attempted attacks in the past two months.\nIsrael might be constrained in any reaction by the possibility of an imminent U.S. strike against Saddam Hussein, because the United States has made clear it wants to keep a lid on Israeli-Palestinian fighting until the Iraq issue is resolved.\nPresident Bush denounced the Haifa bombing, saying terrorists would not prevail. "The president condemns in the strongest terms today's attack on innocents in Israel," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "His message to terrorists is that their efforts will not be successful."\nBritish Foreign Secretary Jack Straw urged Israel and the Palestinians to work toward peace. "There is no justification for attacks on innocent civilians," he said. "Attacks like these will not help the Palestinian cause."\nPalestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat condemned "any attack that is targeting civilians, whether Palestinian or Israeli." But he added, "We reject the Israel government finger-pointing that the Palestinian Authority is responsible"
Palestinian suicide bomber kills 16, injures 55
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