Palestinian suicide bomber kills 19, Israel strikes back

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HAIFA, Israel - A Palestinian woman suicide bomber blew herself up in a restaurant in Israel's northern city of Haifa, killing 19 people including three children and triggering fresh calls in Israel to exile Yasser Arafat.

Israel hit back on Sunday, launching helicopter gunship missile strikes that damaged a militant's home in Gaza City and struck an electricity generator in the el-Bureij refugee camp, cutting power to much of central Gaza. No one was badly hurt.

The Islamic Jihad group said it was behind Saturday's suicide bombing at the Maxim restaurant, frequented by both Jews and Arabs, just before the solemn Jewish Yom Kippur fast day.

The bombing provoked an international outcry and some Israeli ministers demanded Arafat's removal. Palestinian leaders urged the world to stop any assault to oust the Palestinian president.

The attack dealt a new blow to a stalled US-backed peace "road map". It was the first since twin attacks killed 15 people on September 9 and the first since Israel's cabinet decided in principle on September 11 to "remove" Arafat.

"Suddenly we heard a tremendous explosion. We saw smoke pour out of the restaurant and the windows shattered," said witness Navon Hai. "There wasn't much we could do. Families were dead around the tables, there were children without limbs."

The bomber's severed head with a long mane of dark hair lay on the floor in the centre of the restaurant, surrounded by other body parts and bloody clothes. A black and white chequered baby carriage stood amid the wreckage.

Rescue workers said five members of one family were killed -- children aged one and three, their mother, father and grandmother. A submarine commander, his wife and child were among others killed.

Police said a security guard was also killed and that about 50 people were wounded. A number of Israeli Arabs were thought to be among the dead.

Islamic Jihad named the bomber as Hanadi Tayseer Jaradat, 29, from the West Bank city of Jenin. It said she was avenging the killing of her brother and cousin, Islamic Jihad members, by Israel in a three-year-old Palestinian uprising for statehood.

Arafat condemned the attack and said it would give Israel a pretext to obstruct international peace efforts.

Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Ahmed Qurie, whose government is obliged to rein in militants under the road map, urged Palestinians to "fully halt these actions that target civilians". Israel said that was "too little and too late".

Israel blamed Arafat for the violence. "Arafat has become a living obstacle to peace. It is imperative that we get rid of him," Israeli Science Minister Eliezer Sandberg told Reuters.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation's executive committee appealed to the world not to permit an Israeli assault to prise Arafat out of his West Bank headquarters, urging it to prevent any "crimes...against President Arafat personally".

About 30 Arafat supporters, including some foreigners, went to his compound in the city of Ramallah to act as "human shields", witnesses said.

US President George W Bush said the suicide bombing was despicable. He urged Palestinians to "fight terror, which remains the foremost obstacle to achieving the vision of two states living side by side in peace and security".

Britain, France and Germany also condemned the bombing. The United Nations said such attacks harmed the Palestinian cause.

- REUTERS