Beirut, Sept 19: The radical Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement claimed responsibility Thursday for a suicide blast in norther Israel which killed an Israeli policeman as well as the bomber the day before. In a statement in Beirut, Islamic Jihad admitted that the bomber had been prevented by the police from reaching his target, which it did not identify.

The group said it would not name the bomber, "in order to protect his family and spare it the collective punishments which the Israeli army inflicts."

In the first suicide attack inside Israel in six weeks, the attacker detonated his explosives at a bus stop in the northern Arab town of Umm el-Fahm as suspicious police approached him.
A policeman also died in the blast and another two Israelis were wounded, a policeman and a civilian whose condition was serious, a police spokesman said. Bureau Report