Americans told to quit Gaza

All US citizens were today told to leave the Gaza Strip after a roadside bombing killed three Americans travelling in a convoy.

Embassy spokesman Paul Patin said: "We put out a message to Americans in Gaza to leave for their own safety."

US investigators were probing the attack, the first on international diplomats during the three years of Palestinian uprising.

The bombing destroyed the armour-plated jeep carrying the officials through the Gaza Strip. Palestinian youths threw stones at US investigators as they arrived at the scene but dispersed after police fired into the air.

The attack happened at the entrance to the Jabalya refugee camp near the town of Beit Hanoun. Witnesses said parts of a Cherokee jeep used by the diplomats were strewn in a 30-metre radius.

The army said it was unclear whether the bomb was planted on the roadside or whether a suicide attacker had struck. However, one witness reported seeing a wire with a switch trailing across the road leading to a concrete building.

Indications from the US embassy in Tel Aviv suggested the dead were employees of a security firm hired to protect the US mission. One person was seriously injured.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack which was condemned by Palestinian officials. Senior negotiator Saeb Erekat called it a "devastating blow" which would undermine efforts to bring international observers to the region.