At least three people were killed and 32 wounded in an explosion which ripped through an open market in central Tel Aviv on Monday, Israeli rescue workers and police said.

The explosion, a suicide attack according to police, occurred at 11:30 AM (09:30 GMT) at a stall in the open Carmel Market in central Tel Aviv, causing large numbers of casualties, near the intersection of Rambam and Carmel Streets.

Witnesses said the ground shook when the blast went off near a dairy shop close to a city intersection. The remains of the suicide bomber were found nearby.

Israel Radio reported police said the explosion was a terrorist attack. "A suicide bomber exploded next to a vegetable stand inside the market," Tel-Aviv Police chief Cmdr. David Tzur said.

Local TV Channel 10 reported that police had found a body of a suspected male suicide bomber at the scene.

Among the wounded, two were in critical condition, three others described as seriously hurt.
 
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack afterwards.

The suicide bomber was identified as an 18-year old young man from Askar refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus,, according to a report of the pro-Hezbollah television satellite station of al Mannar.

However, the PFLP has not issued any official leaflet yet.

Israeli military sources said the bomber was likely to have traveled from Nablus to Jerusalem, and then to Tel Aviv. The bomb he carried had been a relatively small one, a fire brigade commander said.

Police suspect that there may be other bombs or potential bombers in the area and were conducting searches.

Residents have been asked to stay away from the area. Large numbers of rescue personnel were reported on their way to the scene.

The security officials registered 44 terror alerts as of Monday morning. Two Palestinian would-be bombers were arrested in the past week in the West Bank, Army Radio reported.

A witness, who was identified only by his first name Motti, said he heard an explosion in the market.

"I thought it (the explosion) may be fireworks, or a gas canister. But then I saw a store completely destroyed. Goods fell to the ground. People ran away. I lost my glasses and my hat," Motti was quoted by the radio as saying.

"There was a woman whose entire body was torn up, all her body was torn up," a shopper told Army Radio. "I was about 10 meters from the shop."

Officials in Jerusalem said there was no connection between Monday's attack and Palestinian National Authority chairman Yasser Arafat's health condition.
 
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the bombing.  

"We urge the international community to exert every possible effort to revive the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, which is the only way to break this vicious cycle of violence," he said.

It was the first suicide attack in Israel since ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was flown to Paris from the West Bank city of Ramallah last Friday for medical treatment in France.

(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2004)