A Palestinian suicide bomber disguised as an ultra-Orthodox Jew blew himself up at the entrance to the northern West Bank settlement of Kedoumim, located west of Nablus, at 9:45pm local time Thursday. Four Israelis were killed, media reports say.
Army Radio said police suspect the three Israelis, two women and a man, gave a ride to a Palestinian in their car, and the Palestinian blew himself up, killing all four. Their bodies were burned so badly that identification was difficult, the military said. Medics could not immediately approach the car because it was still burning nearly an hour after the blast.
A new group called Kateb al-Shahid Chamuda from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus claimed responsibility for the explosion and identified the bomber as Mahmoud Masharka, 24, of Hebron. The group is a faction of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a terrorist wing of Fatah, which is headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Prime Ministers' Office blamed the Palestinian Authority for the attack, PMO official David Baker told Ha'aretz. "The Palestinian Authority continues to do nothing to prevent terror against Israelis. There are currently scores of terrorist alerts concerning attacks against Israelis in the works," said Baker. "The Palestinian Authority continues to be fertile ground for terrorist attacks, most notably because of the PA's aversion to taking any necessary steps to prevent terror," he added.
UPDATE 3/31 @ 9:49am: Security sources tell us that in light of the continued firing of projectile rockets at Israel from Gaza, aimed against Israeli citizens and civilian infrastructure, the IDF has increased its activity against projectile rocket launching cells in Gaza.
As part of this activity, the IDF carried out aerial attacks today, targeting three projectile rocket launching grounds, open areas on the outskirts of Gaza, ten access routes and a bridge. These, in addition to artillery fire and naval artillery fire at launch sites, are meant to disrupt Palestinian terror cells' repeated attempts to fire rockets at Israel and to cause harm to Israeli civilians.
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