Jerusalem, July 08: Israeli Police today said an explosion at a house near Tel Aviv which left two people dead was most likely to have been the work of a Palestinian suicide bomber. "There is a very, very strong chance that it was the result of an attack by a Palestinian suicide bomber," Tel Aviv's police commissioner Yehuda Bahar told military radio.

Officers had recovered a detonator amid the rubble left by the blast at a house in the village of Kfar Yabetz, near the West Bank, yesterday night, police sources added. "Apparently it was not caused by a gas explosion, the damage is too extensive and one of the bodies has been totally blown to pieces", in a further indication that it was a suicide attack, another senior police official, Amichai Shai, told the radio.

"The blast was apparently caused by explosives," he added. A 65-year-old woman who lived in the house was killed in the blast.

Police have not given any details about the identity of a man whose body was also found in the rubble.

Three children, thought to have been the woman's grandchildren, were also slightly injured in the explosion which was originally thought to have been caused by a gas explosion. If it is confirmed that the blast was the result of a suicide bombing, it would be the first such incident since major Palestinian militant groups announced a temporary halt to anti-Israeli attacks late last month.

Bureau Report