Palestinian militants kill 5 Israelis; Israel stages air raids

Associated Press WriterJERUSALEM (AP) -- Palestinian militants struck at Israeli civilians Tuesday with a suicide bombing on a bus, a roadside ambush in the West Bank and a restaurant shooting in Israel's largest city, leaving five Israelis and two Palestinian assailants dead.

In retaliatory raids, Israeli warplanes and helicopters bombed seven separate Palestinian government compounds and security complexes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Most had been abandoned in anticipation of the Israeli strikes.

However, an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Ramallah killed three Palestinian security officers in a car, one of whom was wanted by Israel, Palestinian officials said.

The death toll has soared over the past week amid violence that is erupting round-the-clock. Sixty-one Palestinians and 31 Israelis have died in one of the deadliest weeks since fighting broke out in September 2000.

Palestinian militants carried out the restaurant shooting at a popular Tel Aviv hangout that was still busy at 2 a.m. The other two attacks came during the morning rush hour, another time militants frequently strike.

Israel's military, with its night-vision equipment and sophisticated weaponry, bombed with F-16 warplanes Monday and Tuesday nights, while helicopter gunships carried out during daylight hours Tuesday.

In the Tuesday night strike in Ramallah, one of those killed was Muhannad Abu Halaweh, a member of the Force 17 unit that protects senior Palestinian officials, hospital officials said. Israel has said he was responsible for several attacks against Israelis.

Over the past week, Israelis and Palestinians have barely had time to digest one violent outburst before the next one hits -- and both sides say they are gearing up for more confrontations.

"We will wage a relentless war against terrorism, because for us it's a question of survival," said Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner, adding that negotiations with the Palestinians could only resume once Israel won that war.

Israel's Security Cabinet met Tuesday and agreed to maintain "increased security operations," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said. Sharon told reporters the Palestinians would have to be hit hard to understand that Israel will not succumb to violence.

Palestinian militants said they would avenge recent Israeli military strikes, including a tank shelling that killed five Palestinian youngsters Monday. Recent Palestinian attacks have included deadly shootings at Israeli military checkpoints.

"We ordered the Palestinian people to fire on all these roadblocks because they are the symbol of the hated occupation," Marwan Barghouti, a leader of Arafat's Fatah movement, said in an interview broadcast on Israeli television.

Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles Tuesday at Palestinian police offices in three West Bank cities, but the buildings had been evacuated and no one was hurt. Israel also fired missiles at Palestinian security headquarters in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, wounding one man.

Tuesday's violence began just after 2 a.m. when a Palestinian gunman armed with grenades, a knife and an M-16 rifle opened fire on the Seafood Market, an all-night restaurant and nightclub in Tel Aviv, where a group of women was attending a pre-wedding party.

Three Israelis, including a policeman, were killed in the attack, and 31 were injured. One of the patrons, William Hazan, said he fired at the attacker who at the time was stabbing another guest. Police said officers killed the assailant.

The Al Aqsa Brigades, a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility and the assailant was identified as Ibrahim Hassouna, 20, an officer in the Palestinian naval police.

Hassouna taped a farewell video, as is customary in suicide missions. Kneeling in prayer, with an automatic rifle and a Quran, the Muslim holy book, by his side, he said: "Don't cry for me, mother, be happy ... because I am a martyr, a hero, like the others."

On Tuesday morning, a suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus in the central Israeli town of Afula, killing himself and an Israeli passenger and wounding 11 people, police said.

The bus driver, Danny Nahum, said the assailant was wearing a heavy coat when he boarded the bus and at first did not want to accept the change after paying his fare. Nahum said the man sat next to the back door, and set off the explosives as the bus pulled into the Afula station.

The militant Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility and identified the bomber as Abdel Karim Tahayneh, 21. The bombing was retaliation for Israel's repeated raids of Jenin and the adjacent refugee camp in recent days, the group said.

Also Tuesday, Palestinian gunmen fired at Israeli motorists on the West Bank's main north-south highway, just south of Jerusalem. A 45-year-old Israeli woman was killed and her husband lightly injured.

In the Arab neighborhood of Sur Baher in Jerusalem, a bomb went off in a high school Tuesday, injuring seven students and a teacher.

In Hebrew-language messages sent by beeper to Israeli radio stations, a previously unknown group calling itself "The Avengers of the Infants" -- apparently consisting of Jewish extremists -- claimed responsibility.

There was speculation that the school bombing came as retaliation for a suicide bombing in Jerusalem on Saturday in which 10 Israelis, including five infants and children, were killed.