PALESTINIAN militants issued a stark challenge to the new political order of Mahmoud Abbas, the Prime Minister-designate, when a suicide bomber killed himself and a security guard at a railway station.

The attack, Israel’s first suicide bombing for nearly a month, occurred yesterday at the entrance to a commuter station in Kfar Saba, just north of Tel Aviv. Israelis were returning to work after the Passover holiday.

The bombing took place less that 24 hours after Yassir Arafat, the Palestinian Authority leader, bowed to international pressure and allowed Mr Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, to form a government committed to clamping down on militant groups as part of an effort to reopen peace talks with Israel.

Hours after the attack, Israeli soldiers opened fire on a group of stone-throwing youths. Two Palestinians were killed, a 17-year-old boy and a 30-year-old taxi driver, in a village near Ramallah.

Responsibility for the bombing was claimed by a splinter group of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an organisation linked to Mr Arafat’s Fatah party, which Mr Abbas intends to disband, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The rebel faction has repeatedly ignored ceasefire calls by Mr Arafat, who condemned the bombing.

In a statement, the two groups called the bombing a “strike against enemies of God and humanity” and threatened more attacks.

The bomber, Ahmed al-Khatib, 18, from the Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank town of Nablus, exploded the 15kg device when the security guard, Alexander Kostyuk, 23, approached with his metal detector and asked for his identity papers. More than 20 people were injured.

The guard’s attention was apparently caught by the thick black overcoat the bomber was wearing despite the warm weather.

Amid body parts and twisted debris, a dent to the station ceiling was clearly visible, caused by the impact of the bomber’s head striking it after the explosion. Trails of blood could be seen leading from the entrance to inside the station, where injured survivors fled after the blast.

The attack illustrated the daunting task facing Mr Abbas once his government is approved by the Palestinian Legislative Council, which could be as soon as next week. Mr Abbas and Mohammad Dahlan, his Security Minister, are committed to reining in groups which attack Israel so that international conditions for proceeding with the “road map”, a peace plan envisaging a Palestinian state, can be met.

Their plans have been opposed by Mr Arafat, who only dropped his resistance under intense international pressure. Mr Arafat attempted to block the plan to disarm al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and also opposed giving Mr Abbas powers to confront other militant organisations. Israel, which has said it will negotiate with Mr Abbas but not with Mr Arafat, indicated that it would withdraw from peace talks if the attacks continued.

Silvan Shalom, the Foreign Minister, told Israeli Radio that Mr Abbas had to conduct an uncompromising war against terror. “This attack clarifies more than anything else that we cannot continue to work on two tracks in parallel: one track of terror and another track of negotiations,” he said.

Israeli security forces claimed to have foiled at least 60 attacks during Passover. It came amid a heavy army presence, particularly in Jerusalem, in anticipation that militants would try to mount an attack to coincide with the end of the holiday.

A witness, David Ben-Goy, 39, said: “Attacks like this have the purpose of stopping any peace with Israel. They are trying to wreck the appointment of Abu Mazen. It’s not a question of borders. As long as there are fanatical people who think we, the Israelis, should perish I don’t think there will be peace.”

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