Attacks imperil statehood: US

"We strongly condemn this terrorist attack. We condemn it in the strongest possible terms," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, adding that US President George W. Bush's "thoughts and prayers" were with the victims.

The bomber, a member of the hardline Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, killed 10 other people and left about 48 injured when he blew himself up aboard a rush-hour Jerusalem bus.

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US Secretary of State Colin Powell denounced the "horrendous attack" and emphasized that those behind it "have struck a blow once more against the aspirations of the Palestinian people to have a homeland of their own."

Powell expressed support for the US-backed "road map" to peace but warned that extremist violence against Israelis might make it impossible to meet the blueprint's 2005 deadline for creating an independent Palestinian state.

"The longer time goes by without progress because we can't get it going, the parties can't get moving because of this terrorist activity, the more difficult it will be to achieve the goals laid out in the road map with respect to a timetable," he told reporters.

Meanwhile, three Palestinian militants were shot dead by Israeli troops in the occupied territories early Friday, including two teenagers close to a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip, medical sources said.

Sources at Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital had originally confirmed the death of only one Palestinian in the incident near the settlement of Dugit, close to Beit Lahya, but later said a second had died.

The two were later named by family sources as Mohammed Khalaf and Mohammed al-Ashqar, both members of the hardline Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.