Finger Points To Iran After Attack

Palestinian security forces on Saturday arrested two suspected militants in connection with a suicide bombing that killed four Israelis at a Tel Aviv nightclub, acting on orders from Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to track down and punish those responsible.

Palestinian sources say an operative from the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, which they say has been trying to disrupt an informal Mideast truce, financed the Tel Aviv attack and recruited the suicide bomber, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger.

Abbas hinted at Hezbollah involvement, holding a "third party" responsible for the bombing.

Hezbollah, which is funded by Iran, has hundreds of West Bank gunmen from various Palestinian militant groups on its payroll.

Israel and the United States said Abbas has to act quickly and forcefully — despite his long-standing reluctance to confront militants — if he wants to rescue a fragile Mideast truce.

Abbas met with Cabinet ministers and security chiefs Saturday to discuss a possible response. Abbas condemned the attack as "sabotage" and said he was exchanging information with Israel, the United States and Europe. He said he hoped the attack would not derail efforts to resume peace talks.

The bomber was identified as Abdullah Badran, 21, a university student from the village of Deir al-Ghusun near the West Bank town of Tulkarem. His parents said he was a devout Muslim but had no history of militant activity.

The three main militant groups — Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades — denied involvement, and none hung the customary posters of congratulations at the bomber's home.

The Palestinian interior minister, Nasser Yousef, said Palestinian security forces arrested two militants in connection with the attack. Local security officials in Tulkarem said the two men have ties to Islamic Jihad and that more arrests were expected.

Palestinian security officials had said they were investigating whether Badran was recruited by local militants from Al Aqsa, which has ties to Abbas' ruling Fatah movement, at the behest of Hezbollah. Often, there is overlap and coordination between militant groups, particularly Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa.

Earlier Saturday, Israeli forces arrested two of the bomber's brothers and four neighbors in his home village, including the local mosque preacher. It was not clear whether all were suspects, or whether the brothers were taken to provide DNA samples for a positive identification of the bomber.

The arrests by the Palestinian security forces signaled Abbas' determination to salvage the truce, declared at a Feb. 8 Mideast summit.

The bomber detonated a powerful bomb, reportedly about 66 pounds, around 11:30 p.m. Friday among Israelis waiting outside the seaside nightclub Stage.

"Suddenly there was this huge explosion and we just ran," said Merav Ayush, 20, who was on her way to the club when the explosion occurred. "I saw a boy and a girl sitting on the ground. At the entrance to the club there were about 15 people just lying on the floor," Ayush said from her hospital bed.

Police said the guards outside the club spotted the bomber and didn't let him in. The explosion dispersed thousands of metal shards that had been packed into the bomb, cutting down people standing nearby. The explosion ripped off the front of the nightclub, shattering windows of nearby restaurants and blackening cars.

The bodies of a young woman and the bomber lay under white plastic bags in a pool of blood and shattered glass covered the sidewalk. Three of the wounded died on their way to hospital, and 50 people were wounded, paramedics said.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was to meet with army chiefs after the end of the Jewish Sabbath at sundown Saturday, but it appeared there would be no immediate Israeli retaliation and that Abbas would be given some time to act.

Israeli Cabinet minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Abbas must move quickly. "This time, words are not enough. He has to combat terrorism," Ben-Eliezer, a former defense minister, told Israel Army Radio on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters Saturday, Abbas pledged to track down those responsible for the attack, accusing them of trying to derail the peace process. "There is a third party that wants to sabotage this process," he said in a veiled reference to Hezbollah. "This act harms our interests, our path and our goals, and we will not hesitate for a minute to track them down, bring them to justice and punish them," he told reporters Saturday.

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice condemned the attack "in the strongest possible terms" and said it is essential that Palestinian leaders take "immediate, credible steps" to find those responsible. Rice took note of the Palestinian condemnation of the attack. "We now must see actions that send a clear message that terror will not be tolerated," she said.

The bomber was a student of education at a local university and a devout Muslim, but had no known ties with militant groups, said his brother, Ibrahim.

Palestinian officials and a West Bank militant leader said they believed Hezbollah had orchestrated the attack. Palestinian officials said they had been tracking communications between Hezbollah and Al Aqsa militants in the northern West Bank in recent days.

Hezbollah declined comment. "As far as we are concerned, there is no need to respond to such lies," a Hezbollah official said in Beirut.

However, Hezbollah has emerged as the biggest threat to the fragile Israeli-Palestinian truce, offering West Bank gunmen thousands of dollars to attack Israelis. The group is backed by Iran and Syria.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the largest Palestinian militant groups, all denied involvement, saying they were respecting the informal truce.

"If it turns out that indeed an individual from the brigades carried out his attack, everyone must know that they acted alone, and that the Aqsa Brigades does not identify with him and does not recognize him as a member," said Abu Mahmoud, the group's official spokesman.

Since this month's Mideast summit, the two sides have stepped up security cooperation, and Israel has pledged to hand over security responsibilities in most of the West Bank to Palestinian forces.

It was the first suicide bombing since the cease-fire declaration, as well as the first such attack since the death of longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Nov. 11. The last suicide bombing killed three people in a Tel Aviv market on Nov. 1.