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Suicide bomber kills 2 in Israel

A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up Tuesday evening at a busy intersection outside a shopping mall in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya, killing himself and at least two others, and wounding 30 people, according to the Israeli police and rescue workers.

Israel said the attack would not derail the planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, which is set to be carried out next month. But Prime Minister Ariel Sharon`s spokesman said Israel was prepared to act against those responsible if the Palestinian Authority did not.

"We are not going to stop the disengagement," Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Sharon, said in reference to the Gaza pullout. "But we are going to stop terrorism."

The terrorist attack marked the second suicide bombing since the Israelis and Palestinians declared a truce in February. Overall, violence has been down sharply since then but there are still almost daily shootings and clashes in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. The suicide bomber struck shortly before 7 p.m., detonating his explosives at a crosswalk just outside Hasharon mall.

A suicide bombing at the mall`s entrance, just a few steps away from the site of Tuesday`s blast, killed five Israelis in May 2001.