Palestinian Suicide Bomber Kills Israeli Woman, Injures 10

DIMONA, Israel — A Palestinian suicide bomber killed an Israeli woman and injured 10 others yesterday in the first such attack in more than a year.

The attacker blew himself up in Dimona, the site of Israel's nuclear research reactor in the Negev desert. An accomplice was shot by police before he was able to detonate his explosives.

The pair had slipped into Egypt via its chaotic Gaza border, and then into Israel, fulfilling the warnings of Israeli security officials of the increased risk of such attacks. The Hamas group, which controls Gaza, blew holes in the border wall last month, sparking the movement of thousands of Palestinians into Egypt.

Three Palestinian militant groups said they had sponsored the bomb attack, including Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a group linked to the moderate Fatah faction of the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Abbas's office condemned the attack. The Israeli president, Shimon Peres, attacked "the despicable terrorists who want to murder innocent women and children and nip in the bud any chances of peace." However, Israeli officials vowed to press on with peace talks with Mr. Abbas.

Israeli retribution was swift. A senior Palestinian militant from the Popular Resistance Committees, a group linked to Hamas, was killed in an air strike in Gaza within two hours of the bombing.

A videotape released shortly afterwards showed one of the bombers, Loai al-Aghwani, 20, of Gaza City, claiming that his actions would "restore dignity to the Palestinian people." Standing in front of an Al Aqsa Brigades banner, Mr. Aghwani appealed to Fatah and Hamas "to end internal division." An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aryeh Mekel, said: "The Palestinian terrorist organizations have shown once again who they are and what they stand for. Just like the Kassam rocket fire on Sderot and the sniper fire on Israeli fields bordering Gaza, today's attack deliberately targeted innocent civilians."

The Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, pledged to speed construction of a wall on the Israeli-Egyptian border, where barbed wire fencing is regularly breached.

In Dimona, reports said the bomber stopped for a coffee before his attack. A witness described how the second bomber had been prevented from detonating his suicide belt as emergency services rushed to the first explosion.

"I saw them grab him and open his jacket, and I saw his explosive belt before they shot him in the head," a woman speaking at the site of the attack, a small shopping center, Jacqueline Ganish, 58, said. "Terrorism in Dimona? We've never had anything like this."