Palestinian prez Abbas condemns suicide bombing

Cairo, Jan 30: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today condemned a suicide bombing by Palestinian militants that killed three people in Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat a day earlier.

Abbas told reporters in Cairo after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that he did not expect the bombing to disrupt a shaky two-month-old ceasefire between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza.

''My position regarding this operation is that I do not accept it and I reject and condemn it. There was no need at all, and it does not benefit us at all. I do not think that this operation in particular will impact the calm between us and the Israelis in the Gaza Strip,'' Abbas said.

Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz told parliament yesterday that Israel would protect its citizens while doing everything to maintain the ceasefire.

Yesterday's bombing was claimed by Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Abbas's Fatah faction, which said in a statement the operation was a response to Israel's ''attempts to defile al-Aqsa mosque'' in Jerusalem, a reference to recent archaeological excavations.

Reuters