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BBC Israel strikes back after bombingThe bomber struck in the heart of Jerusalem
Israeli fighter jets have fired two missiles at Palestinian police headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The strike by F-16 fighters came about 10 hours after a suicide bomber killed at least 15 people - including several children - and wounded about 90 in the heart of Jerusalem.
Israel also took control of several Palestinian Authority offices in East Jerusalem - including the Orient House, which houses the offices of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, and offices of the Palestinian security forces on the city's outskirts.
And Palestinian security sources in the Gaza Strip said Israeli tanks had entered several hundred metres into Palestinian territory.
The Israeli Cabinet Secretary, Gideon Saar, was quoted by Israel Army radio as saying the Israeli operations were intended to persuade the Palestinian National Authority "to fight terror".
The Ramallah police station was said to have been levelled by the Israeli missiles.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, and it appears that many Palestinian police stations were evacuated ahead of the attack amid fears of Israeli retaliation for the Jerusalem bombing.
The last time Israel used F-16 fighters was following a Palestinian attack in May, when a suicide bomber killed six people outside a shopping centre in the coastal city of Netanya.
The BBC's Nick Childs in Jerusalem says the latest moves strike at the heart of the Palestinian Authority, while avoiding bloodshed.
Arafat 'responsible' for bomb
Thursday's bomb in Jerusalem was the most deadly attack since a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 20 Israelis in Tel Aviv on 1 June - and the worst by far in Jerusalem during the ongoing 10-month Palestinian uprising.
Mr Sharon convened his security cabinet the same evening to decide on Israel's reaction to the attack.
A senior adviser to Mr Sharon has blamed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for the bombing.
Dore Gold said Mr Arafat bore responsibility for the attack because he had not put an end to incitement to violence against Israelis.
"Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority are directly responsible for the deaths," he told the BBC.
Mr Arafat condemned the attack and called for a joint ceasefire.
In a strongly worded statement, US President George W Bush called on Mr Arafat to "act now to arrest and bring to justice those responsible, and take immediate, sustained action to prevent future terrorist attacks".
Hamas, the hard-line Palestinian militant group, said one of its members had been the bomber.
Islamic Jihad, which had also said that one of its activists carried out the attack, later said it had been mistaken.
The nail-packed bomb exploded in one of the busiest intersections in Jewish west Jerusalem at the busiest part of the day.
Palestinian suicide bombers have killed dozens of Israelis since the uprising began after peace talks became deadlocked.
In a separate incident on Thursday, an Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper near the West Bank town of Tulkarm.
Later, a 19-year-old Israeli woman died near an Israeli farming community near the West Bank after coming under fire from Palestinian gunmen.
-- Anonymous, August 10, 2001