PNA condemns Dimona suicide bombing

RAMALLAH, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Monday condemned a suicide bombing which rocked a shopping mall in southern Israel and killed an Israeli woman.

The PNA "renews its firm position which condemns every operation that targets the civilians whether they were Palestinians or Israelis", a PNA spokesman told the official Wafa news agency.

An Israeli woman was killed and 11 others were wounded in the suicide bombing at a shopping mall in southern Israel town of Dimona, the first of its kind on the Israeli soil in more than one year.

The spokesman also condemned the killing of two Islamic Jihad fighters by Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Jenin on Monday morning.

A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement denied any involvement of Fatah's military wing al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the explosion, but media reports quoted a spokesman for the military group as claiming its responsibility inthe incident in collaboration with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

"The side which stands behind this attack is known for its hard-line stances which reject any calmness that may help the peace process," said the Fatah spokesman, implicitly referring to Islamic Hamas movement.

For its part, Hamas praised the attack, saying it was a natural response to the Israeli siege and offensive on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

"Hamas hails this martyrdom operation and calls on the armed groups to go ahead in this way," said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri in a statement sent to the media.

GAZA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The military wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement claimed responsibility on Monday for a suicide bombing which ripped through a shopping mall in southern Israel town of Dimona.

Palestinian news agency of Maan reported that a spokesman for al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades of Fatah confirmed during a phone interview with Maan that his group was behind the blast, which killed at least four Israelis and wounded 16 others, six of them in critical condition. Full story

JERUSALEM, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The death toll rose to three that killed and five moderately injured Monday morning in a attack carried out by a suicide bomber at a commercial center in the southern Israeli city of Dimona, local daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on its website.

The report said that loud explosion rocks the southern Israeli city Monday morning at 10:00 a.m.(0800 GMT) as a suicide bomber detonated explosive belt in a commercial center.