3 die in new Israeli blast

Israel says a powerful explosion on its border with the West Bank has killed three people and injured several others.

The dead reportedly include two Israeli youths waiting for a bus to school at an Israeli petrol station, close to the West Bank town of Qalqilya.

An Israeli police spokesman said the blast was a suicide attack; a man had triggered a belt of explosives as he approached the youths.

The Palestinian militant group, Hamas, says it was responsible.

Police defused two other explosive devices in Israeli towns Natanya and Petah Tikvah, and the BBC Jerusalem correspondent says that after the two bomb attacks yesterday in Jerusalem, many Israelis believe they now face a sustained bombing campaign. The Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, has called a special meeting of his security cabinet later today.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service