Terror bombing kills two Israelis

An injured woman is evacuated Wednesday by paramedics at the site of the terror attack in Rishon Letzion.

RISHON LETZION, Israel (CNN) -- A suicide bombing in the center of a crowded pedestrian district here Wednesday killed two Israelis and wounded at least 37 others, including four critically, according to Israeli authorities.

The terror attack marked the second time in two weeks a suicide bombing directed at civilians has rocked Rishon Letzion, a town about 15 miles southeast of Tel Aviv.

"Suddenly there was an explosion. Everyone ran away. There was lots of smoke and it smelled like firecrackers," 16-year-old Shmuel Voller told The Associated Press.

The bombing occurred on Rothschild Street in the heart of the town around 9:15 p.m. (2:15 p.m. ET).

"I was sitting in the garden and I saw the man blow up. I saw the man without a head," 13-year-old Pavel Zuhama told the AP.

Witnesses described the bomber as a man with dyed-blond hair who set off his explosive in an outdoor area where picnic tables are set up and people come to eat and play backgammon and chess. The area is popular among Russian immigrants, especially the elderly.

Gil Kleiman, a spokesman from the national Israeli police force, said the device was packed with nails and other shrapnel to "do a large amount of devastation."

He said 37 Israelis were wounded, including four who were hospitalized in critical condition.

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"What we know now from our initial police investigation is that the suicide bomber made some attempt to disguise his appearance. From what we saw from our forensics team ... is that he bleached his hair," Kleiman told CNN.

Kleiman, a veteran witness of such bomb scenes in Israel, said that in the past year and a half Israel has been struck by more than 120 suicide bombers.

"We're dealing with an across-the-board attack on the home front," he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest bombing.

Condemnations and military actions

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the Palestinian Authority condemned the attack. "We don't condone the killing of civilians -- of Israelis or Palestinians," he told CNN.

Erakat said the recent Israeli military activities in the West Bank and Gaza provided "no security, no peace for anyone."

Senior Israeli official Gideon Meir blamed the Palestinian Authority for not doing enough to crack down on terror.

"Condemnations are only words. We must receive action, and we do not see any Palestinian action," he told CNN.

Meir added: "We witnessed tonight another Palestinian vicious terror attack against innocent Israelis. ... Israel will not give in to terror."

Earlier Wednesday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man who opened fire on border police and threw an explosive device at them near the West Bank city of Jenin, Israeli military sources said.

The man's body was found with a pistol and an M-16 rifle. No Israeli soldiers were hurt.

Town bombed earlier this month

On May 8, a suicide attack at a pool hall in Rishon Letzion killed 15 people and wounded dozens of others. The radical Islamic group Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombing. Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization, has been labeled by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization.

In other attacks this week, a man believed to be a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up Monday at a bus stop in northern Israel. No other casualties were reported.

On Sunday, witnesses said a suicide bomber dressed in an Israeli army uniform detonated a powerful bomb at an open-air market at the entrance of coastal city of Netanya, killing three Israelis and wounding 56 others.

That was the same city where 29 Israelis were killed in a suicide bombing on March 27, the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover.

After that attack, Israel launched a five-week military operation to root out what it called the "terrorist infrastructure" in the Palestinian territories in the West Bank.