At least three people have been killed in the Israeli city of Netanya in the first suicide bomb attack in the region for almost four months.
A unit of the Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad, has claimed responsibility for the attack on a shoppping centre in the town, which lies 12 km from the West Bank and has been a frequent target for bomb attacks.
Israeli police said that at least another 30 people were wounded in the attack, which happened at the entrance to the centre at around 4.30pm Irish time.
Violence has fallen sharply since the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, declared a ceasefire in February.
Today's bombing is the first suicide attack in Israel since a bomb attack on 25 February on a nightclub in the Israeli capital, Tel Aviv, by the same group killed five Israelis.
