Sharon vows to strike back

Israeli forces today sealed off the West Bank city of Hebron in retaliation for two deadly suicide bombings which killed 16 bus passengers during a wave of bloody terror attacks around the world.

Already the Israeli army has closed off Hebron - from where the bombers were sent by Hamas - and blown up the home of one of them, Ahmed Kawasmeh. Israeli military sources said soldiers were searching the city.

Top Israeli military commanders met Mr Sharon and defence minister Shaul Mofaz for three hours late last night to discuss further reprisals.

The double bombing in the southern city of Beersheba yesterday was the first suicide attack in Israel in almost six months. One of the dead was a three-year-old boy. The 16 did not include the bombers, officials said. More than 80 people were wounded and three were still in critical condition today.

The first bomb went off on a bus as it approached a main junction in the city centre. The driver of a following bus, Yaakov Cohen, saw the explosion and immediately ordered his passengers off, undoubtedly saving many lives as it too was blown up.

The bombings were the first attack on Beersheba, a quiet city of 200,000 in Israel's Negev desert. Israeli officials say this proves the need for the wall which is being built to cut off the occupied West Bank. The wall has yet to be built between Beersheba and the Hebron area of the West Bank, 15 miles away.

A Hamas leaflet said the attack was in retaliation for Israel's assassination of its founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin and his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, earlier this year.

In Gaza, thousands of Hamas supporters celebrated with Rantisi's widow, Rasha, calling the attack a "heroic operation" and saying her husband's soul was "happy in heaven". She threw sweets to the cheering crowd around her house.

However, in a statement Palestinian president Yasser Arafat condemned the attack. It read: "The Palestinian interest requires a stop to harming all civilians so as not give Israel pretext to continue its aggression against our people."

The attack was the deadliest since a female suicide bomber killed 21 people last year in Haifa.