Israel rocked by two bombings hours apart

10.30am - UPDATE

JERUSALEM - Palestinian suicide bombers killed at least 13 people in two separate attacks just hours apart in Israel on Tuesday, hitting back hard after a wave of Israeli air strikes against Islamic militants.

A bomber killed at least six people in a cafe in Jerusalem just over five hours after a bombing killed seven people at a bus stop outside a military base near Tel Aviv, dealing two shattering blows to a collapsing US-backed peace plan.

In an apparent claim of responsibility, the military wing of the militant Hamas movement said: "We say to the Zionists it is the payback time for your daily crimes against the Palestinian people and we are abandoning words for...revenge."

The attacks came amid turmoil in the Palestinian Authority, which Israel accused of failing to rein in militants as called for in the peace plan.

"Someone yelled, 'terrorist attack', and I ran back to try to help the wounded. There was smoke everywhere and people were screaming and crying," said Eyal Schneider, 21, who was walking near the bus stop after finishing a training course at Tzrifin army base outside Tel Aviv.

Hours later, an explosion shattered the glass exterior of the Hillel cafe in the German Colony neighbourhood of Jewish west Jerusalem around evening closing time.

"A suicide bomber entered the cafe and detonated his explosives," Jerusalem police chief Mickey Levy said.

"Two guards were stationed at the cafe, one at the entrance and one inside. Apparently the guard at the entrance saw him and tried to stop him from going in. But he got inside and there was a powerful explosion."

A Reuters correspondent saw four dead people -- a middle-aged man and a young woman -- on the bloodstained pavement. Medics said another two people were killed and dozens wounded.

"It was a fiery explosion, a great boom. I couldn't hear for a while and I saw people fleeing in all directions," said Gideon Cohen, 19, who was working in a nearby restaurant.

In the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, a Hamas stronghold, hundreds of Hamas supporters took to the streets in celebration, chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great).

"Innocent Israelis were targeted for a second time in one evening by Palestinian terrorists," said David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office.

"The Palestinian Authority is doing absolutely nothing to dismantle its terrorist infrastructure," he said. "This inaction is a direct cause of the terror activity against Israel."

Baker said Israel would continue "necessary steps to defend its people in the face of the Palestinian Authority's unwillingness" to dismantle Islamic militant groups.

After a Hamas bomber killed 22 people on a Jerusalem bus on August 19, Israel responded with a campaign to crush the militant group, killing 12 members in attacks since then and drawing vows of revenge.

The late August bloodshed smashed a seven-week-old ceasefire declared by militant groups and hastened the resignation on Saturday of the Palestinians' reformist Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, leaving the US-engineered "road map" peace plan in tatters.

Israeli troops killed two more Hamas militants in a shootout in the West Bank city of Hebron earlier on Tuesday after surrounding a house in an attempt to arrest them, the army said.

An 11-year-old Palestinian boy watching the battle was killed by flying shrapnel, residents said.

Ahmed Korei, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's nominee to replace Abbas as premier, condemned the bus stop attack and called on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to end tit-for-tat bloodshed frustrating peace mediators.

Korei said earlier on Tuesday he would not accept the premier's post if Israel kept up offensives against militants.

Israeli officials said on Tuesday they did not think Korei was sufficiently independent of Arafat to crack down on militants hostile to peacemaking. The United States and Israel accuse Arafat of inciting militant attacks. He denies it.

Sharon received news of the blasts while on a visit to India. Officials accompanying him said there were no immediate plans for him to return earlier than scheduled, on Thursday.

- REUTERS