Explosion near West Bank settlement

JERUSALEM -- A pipe bomb exploded Sunday near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, according to the Israeli army. There were no reports of injuries.

The blast along a road connecting settlements in the West Bank to Israel came a day after two pipe bombs exploded in the Tel Aviv suburb of Kfar Saba, injuring a 70-year-old Israeli man.

Sunday's explosion happened near an Israeli army checkpoint and the Palestinian city of Kalkilia.

The Tsofim settlement is only a few miles from Kfar Saba, just across from the so-called green line that divides the West Bank and Israel.

AUDIO CNN's Mike Hanna: Explosion 770K/62 sec. AIFF or WAV sound Cycle of attack and retaliation 630K/58 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    VIDEO CNN's Brent Sadler reports on the violence along the Israel-Lebanon border Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    TIMELINES Recent acts of violence in the Middle East:  • Bombings  • Activist deaths     MESSAGE BOARD Share your thoughts on the struggle for Mideast peace

Israeli military sources said they did not know what kind of device caused the explosion, but that it was believed to have been planted alongside the road.

An Islamic militant group Sunday claimed responsibility for Kfar Saba attack, saying it was in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Palestinian areas and southern Lebanon.

The Aqsa Martyr Brigades took responsibility for the bombings in a fax sent to a news agency in Beirut Sunday.

The group, which has taken responsibility for other recent attacks, said the bombings were carried out "to retaliate for the continued Israeli aggression."

"Our groups will continue their attacks against the Israeli enemy every time and everywhere and this is our salute to Hezbollah's Mujahideen (fighters) and to our people in the (Palestinian refugee) camps."

Israeli warplanes and artillery repeatedly struck south Lebanon Saturday shortly after Hezbollah rebels killed an Israeli soldier in the disputed Shebaa Farms, at the foot of the Golan Heights occupied by Israel in 1967.

Also Saturday, an activist for the radical group Hamas was killed when a bomb he was making in a Gaza City home went off, a senior Palestinian official said on condition of anonymity. Five other Palestinians were injured.

Another 40 Palestinians were injured, four of them critically, by live and rubber-coated bullets during clashes with Israeli soldiers in two places in Gaza and the West Bank Saturday, Palestinians said.

The bloodshed over the weekend signaled an end to a brief lull in the more than six months of fighting. The lull had followed a U.S.-sponsored meeting between security commanders from the two sides Wednesday.

A second round of talks were scheduled for Monday, but a Palestinian cabinet member said he saw no purpose in the meeting because the Israeli side seemed uninterested in peace.

"Israel itself does not want these meetings. The proof is continuous Israeli attacks after each meeting," Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told The Associated Press.

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