Suicide bombers in Israel accounted for fewer than one in 100 of attacks against Israel in the last five years but caused half the total casualties, according to a survey published in London today.

The Israeli Embassy released a report by Shin Bet, the Israel Security Service, which said that since September 2000 there have been 160 suicide bombers overall, eight of them women.

Out of the total of 24,000 separate attacks against Israelis, the percentage of suicide bombings stood at 0.6 per cent. The number of casualties resulting from these attacks, 514, amount to half of the total casualties during the conflict.

The report shows that suicide bombers are predominately educated single men aged between 17 and 24. It found that 23 per cent of suicide bombers between 2000 and 2005 were university graduates, 24 per cent finished high school. Of the women, one was aged under 17, five were aged 17-24 and two were in the 25-34 age group.

The report found that suicide terror has become the most prominent method of the Palestinian terror infrastructure. Initially, it was supported by ideological explanations, but today large sums of money are transferred to maintain the infrastructure, the report claims.

"There are many people living in the territories whose paid work is to initiate, plan and implement suicide attacks. For them, the ideological component is relatively weak and sometimes does not exist at all," a spokesman said.

The report also states that since the security barrier was constructed, the terrorist organisations have increased trying to exploit "weak" members of the population, such as children, women, sick people and those who suffer from social problems or have low-esteem, to carry out terror attacks.

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