Chicago, June 12: US President George W Bush on Wednesday condemned a bus bombing in Jerusalem "in the strongest possible terms" and appealed to both sides to keep an American-backed peace initiative alive. The suspected suicide bombing, which killed at least 16 people, came one day after Israel tried to kill a leader of the militant Islamic group Hamas.

"The president condemns the (bus) attack in the strongest possible terms," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters. He said Bush was briefed on the bombing during a helicopter flight to downtown Chicago.
Shortly after the bombing, the cycle of violence continued when an Israeli helicopter gunship attacked a car near Gaza City. Hospital sources said a top militant in the Hamas was among those killed.

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Israel's attack on a Hamas leader on Tuesday had drawn a sharp rebuke from Bush, who warned that it could undermine efforts by Palestinians to end anti-Israeli violence.


White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said administration officials were delivering calls to halt violence and get back to talking directly to Israeli and Palestinian officials for a second straight day.


"What the president wants to see happen next is for the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority to get back to the business of peace, to get back to the business of (the) 'road map,'" Fleischer said.
Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi of Hamas, which has rejected the road map as too generous and is branded by the United States as a "terrorist" group, was wounded in Tuesday's strike by Israeli helicopter gunships.


The flare-up of tit-for-tat attacks threatened to derail the peace plan endorsed by Israeli and Palestinian leaders last week at a summit with Bush in Jordan.


Fleischer said it was important for the Israelis to realize "that their responsibilities are to focus on the road map" peace initiative, which he called "the only acceptable path ahead ... that builds trust, that is based on results, that focuses on the peace making responsibilities of both parties."


Under the plan being pressed by Bush aimed at creating a Palestinian state by 2005, the Palestinian Authority is responsible for ending anti-Israeli violence and dismantling groups such as Hamas. Bureau Report