3 dead in suicide bombing in Israel's Eilat resort

JERUSALEM, Jan 29 (Reuters) A suicide bomber killed at least three people in a bakery in Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat today, police said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, the first suicide bombing in the Jewish state since April.

''This was a suicide bombing and the bomber is one of the dead. He apparently entered with a bag or an explosives belt and blew himself up inside the shop,'' a police officer in Eilat said on Army Radio.

Witnesses interviewed by Israeli radio stations said body parts were strewn throughout the bakery. Police initially said the explosion was caused by a gas leak.

Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the national police, said: ''Three people and the bomber were killed.'' Eilat, at the northern tip of the Red Sea, is a popular resort for Israelis and foreign holiday-makers, and has largely been spared the violence of a more than six-year-long Palestinian uprising.

Reuters BDP DS1432