RISHON LETZION, Israel -- A suicide-bomber detonated a satchel explosive in a crowded pool hall near Tel Aviv on Tuesday night, killing at least 15 people and wounding at least 50, police said. The bombing ended a three-week lull in suicide attacks during an Israeli military campaign in the West Bank.
The bomb ripped open the third-floor club, filled the air with lethal shards of glass and buried victims beneath the rubble and debris of the collapsing building.
The attack took place as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was meeting with President Bush in Washington. Upon hearing of the bombing, Sharon cut short his visit to the United States.
In launching the West Bank operation March 29, Sharon said it was necessary to end suicide bombings and wipe out the Palestinian "terrorist infrastructure." But Palestinians and many Israeli security officials had warned that the attacks would not be stopped by the military operation.
Al-Manar Television in Lebanon said it received a claim of responsibility from the Islamic Resistance Movement, known as Hamas, which had vowed to resume the attacks on Israel. The claim said in part: "The strength of the Palestinian resistance is greater than that of Israel's ability to resist."
But the Israeli government asserted that Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, was responsible.
"It is clear that the Palestinian Authority has not given up its terror actions and has not given up its murderous path," David Baker, a spokesman for Sharon said in Jerusalem.
A statement from Arafat's Palestinian Authority called the bombings "terrorist crimes" and said the authority would "take firm and strict measures against those who are involved in this operation and will not be light-handed in punishing those who have caused great harm to our cause."
The target of the latest attack was a small club called Sheffield's, located in a concrete-block building in a commercial area of Rishon Letzion, about nine miles south of Tel Aviv. The bottom two floors, which housed a children's furniture manufacturer, were empty at the time of the blast.
The relatively small club had seven tables for the pool game snooker and several illegal slot machines. It was operating without a license and had no guard, police said.
The bomb was set off about 11 p.m. local time. Haim Cohen, a police commander in the city of 100,000 people, said the bomber "entered all of a sudden into the hall and then he exploded," The Associated Press reported. About 70 people were present at the time.
