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Tel Aviv bomber kills nine

Samiya Hammad holds photos of her son Samer Hammad, a suicide bomber who blew himself up in Tel Aviv, Israel, as she sits outside the family house in the West Bank village of Arakeh on Monday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Dion Nissenbaum and Vita Bekker Knight Ridder
Samiya Hammad holds photos of her son Samer Hammad, a suicide bomber who blew himself up in Tel Aviv, Israel, as she sits outside the family house in the West Bank village of Arakeh on Monday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

TEL AVIV, Israel – A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up outside a fast-food restaurant in a crowded shopping area of Tel Aviv on Monday, killing at least nine people and creating a fresh crisis for the new Palestinian government, led by the militant Islamic group Hamas.

The terrorist group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest in Israel in two years, and released a videotape of the bomber making his farewell statement.

Hamas leaders, who are already faced with a cutoff of aid to the Palestinian Authority, defended the bombing as a valid response to Israeli military operations, drawing instant criticism from Israel and the United States, and the prospect of further political isolation.

“The continued (Israeli) occupation is the reason behind the tensions and the never-ending cycle of violence,” said Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

Israeli and American officials called the bombing a clear test of the new government’s intentions.

“The signs are clear that Hamas has one goal: It’s to destroy the state of Israel,” said Gideon Meir, a spokesman for Israel’s foreign ministry.

In Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Hamas’ reaction would toughen the U.S. refusal to cooperate with the Palestinian government.

The bombing of the Mayor’s Falafel restaurant came just before 2 p.m. as shoppers were preparing for the end of the weeklong Passover celebrations. It shattered car windows and filled the street with shards of broken glass, water bottles and broken chairs. At least 50 people were injured.

A security guard who’d been hired after a January attack on the same location stopped the bomber before he entered the restaurant. While the guard was checking the man’s bag, the bomber detonated as much as 30 pounds of explosives hidden inside, police said.

“I heard a big explosion and immediately lay on the ground,” said Moshe Dorani, 54, who was in a store across the street. “I saw smoke coming out of the falafel place and saw people lying on the ground with deep wounds. No one was moving inside.”

Israel’s Cabinet was expected to meet today to weigh its response to the bombing, which occurred hours before the new Israeli parliament was sworn in. Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who’s in the process of putting together a new coalition government, said he’d do what was necessary to deter more attacks.

Israeli officials have warned that Palestinian government leaders, including Prime Minister Haniyeh, might be targeted for retaliation if they’re linked to terrorism.

Islamic Jihad identified the bomber as Samer Hammad, 21, a college dropout from a village near the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

Hamas’ defense of the bombing put the government at odds with more moderate Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Leader of the rival Fatah party, Abbas has criticized suicide bombings as counterproductive. He condemned Monday’s attack.