BBC Suicide bombing hits Jerusalem Emergency services rushed to the scene of the blast A suicide bomber has blown himself up in central Jerusalem, killing himself and injuring several other people, police have said.

The bombing happened during morning rush hour in a busy part of the city, not far from a pizza restaurant where a suicide bomber killed himself and 15 others last month.

At least 10 people were hurt in Tuesday's blast - at least one seriously.

Police said they had been tipped off about a possible attack and when officers approached the man, he detonated the bomb, which contained a large amount of explosives.

Security stepped up

They said the casualty toll could have been much higher if the bomber had not been intercepted.

Security had been stepped up in Jerusalem after intelligence reports that Palestinian militants were planning an attack.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. But the radical Islamic groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have carried out a series of suicide bombings in recent months.

The attack happened a day after the radical Palestinian group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, set off four bombs in and around Jerusalem, slightly injuring three people.

They said it was to avenge the assassination a week ago of their leader, Abu Ali Mustafa - the highest-ranking Palestinian official to be killed by the Israelis since the start of the Palestinian uprising.

That brought retaliation from Israel with helicopter gunships firing on a Palestinian building near the West Bank town of Hebron.

Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers in Hebron on Monday left two Palestinians dead and at least 20 injured.

Peace efforts

The unrest comes as the European Union's senior foreign policy envoy, Javier Solana, is in Israel to try and help broker a meeting between Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.

Mr Solana, who is visiting the Middle East in the 12th month of the conflict, is aiming to build on an EU-brokered ceasefire that ended an Israeli incursion into the Palestinian town of Beit Jala.

Last week, Israel sent troops and tanks into Beit Jala to try to end Palestinian gun attacks on nearby Gilo, a settlement which Israelis regard as a Jewish neighbourhood of Jerusalem.

Mr Solana met Mr Peres on Monday and was expected to hold talks with Mr Arafat on Tuesday.

Mr Peres has said he might meet Mr Arafat at the weekend, when both are due to attend a conference in Italy.

But there is little hope of an immediate breakthrough, and Mr Peres has cautioned against heightened expectations.

Mr Arafat, too, has played down the chances of a meeting producing results.

-- Anonymous, September 04, 2001