Sign InRegister

Suicide bombing kills at least 5 in Israel

28 wounded; Islamic Jihad claims responsibility

Gallery: Hadera attack

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for an apparent suicide bombing that killed at least five people in the northern Israeli city of Hadera, Israel authorities said.

The dead and wounded lay amid bloodstained trees and produce stands in the open market after Wednesday afternoon's terror attack.

"Body parts reached all the way until my apartment building. The damage is really great," Eidan Akiva told Channel Ten TV, according to The Associated Press.

Akiva lives about 100 meters from the blast.

"This is a very crowded place, very central place," Akiva said. "We never expected that this would happen. We thought our world was good but apparently we were wrong."

CNN's Guy Raz said the wooden marketplace was "completely and utterly gutted" by the impact of the bombing. (Watch the aftermath of the deadly bombing -- 3:25)

Raz said there were bloodstains on the street and shattered glass was everywhere.

Twenty-eight people also were wounded in the attack at the crowded marketplace in the coastal town -- about 40 miles (64 km) north of Tel Aviv, Israeli police said.

Of the 28 wounded, six were in serious condition, hospital sources said.

A person claiming to be a representative of Islamic Jihad phoned CNN and said the attack was in retaliation for the Monday killing of one of Islamic Jihad's leaders in the West Bank.

Israeli forces killed Fathalla Saadi, the 26-year-old head of Islamic Jihad in Tulkarem, on Monday along with another member of the group, the Israel military said.

Saadi was planning terror attacks including "a suicide bombing inside Israel planned to be committed within the next few days," according to an Israel Defense Forces statement issued Monday.

Palestinian negotiator condemns attack

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the Palestinian Authority condemned the attack.

"We don't want to go back to this vicious cycle," Erakat said. "Violence will be violence, bullets will be bullets, we've been there before. Israelis and Palestinians will pay the heaviest price if the cessation of violence is undermined."

Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, dismissed the Palestinian Authority's condemnation and accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, also known Abu Mazen, and other Palestinian leaders of "sitting back and doing nothing."

"If Abu Mazen does not take any real serious action to stop terrorism -- to arrest the terrorists, to disarm the armed groups -- they will take care of him sooner or later," Gissin said.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed to a cease-fire in February.

Israel pulled its troops from Gaza on September 11 and turned control over to Palestinian Authority.

U.S. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "The terrorist attacks that take place only undermine the leadership of President Abbas and undermine his principle of one authority, one law, one gun."

Wednesday's attack was the first in Israel since a suicide bomber wounded 21 people in the southern town of Beersheba on August 28.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad is considered to be a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States and has carried out attacks on civilians and military targets.

The last attack in Hadera was in October 2002, when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a bus packed with passengers in Hadera, killing 14 people.

CNN's Guy Raz and John Vause contributed to this report.