Sharon blames Tel Aviv attack on ICJ ruling

Police and medical services said one woman was killed and 20 people wounded when a bomb placed next to a bus stop in the commercial capital exploded at the start of the morning rush hour on the first day of the working week.

"One woman was killed and we have around 20 people injured," a spokesman for Tel Aviv police told AFP. The fatality was declared dead on arrival at hospital.

Tel Aviv police chief Yossi Setbon said that a device had been concealed in shrubbery.

"It was caused by a charge which had been placed close to a bus stop, in the middle of bushes," he told reporters at the scene of the explosion. "A bus and nearby buildings were damaged."

The windows of a bus near the stop were blown in by the force of the blast.

Police and firefighters, using sniffer dogs, were searching the area for any other bombs and methodically gathering bolts and screws, which had been packed into the device.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militant group linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah movement, swiftly claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to AFP.

A spokesman who declined to give his name said it was carried out to avenge crimes committed by Israeli forces in the West Bank town of Nablus and in the Gaza Strip, where troops recently carried out deadly raids.

The attack came just two days after the International Court of Justice dealt a stunning blow to Israel by declaring its West Bank separation barrier illegal, and ruling that the parts of the structure built on Palestinian territory must be torn down.

Sharon's government has argued that the recent fall in attacks by Palestinians in Israel is a direct result of the barrier, about a third of which has been built so far.

Meanwhile, four Palestinian militants were killed Saturday as a car exploded near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources said.

Security sources named three armed men killed when their car blew up as Hassan Abu Dalal, Mohammed Abu Zur and Mahmud Abu Namus, all aged around 20.