Jerusalem: A suicide bomber blew himself up in a grocery at an Israeli village near the West Bank early on June 19, killing himself and an Israeli, police said.

The bombing attack, which took place in the village of Sde Trumot five kilometres South of the city of Beit Shean shortly after 8.30 am (IST), killed the bomber and wounded the store's owner, who later succumbed to his injuries, police said.

Eyewitnesses said the grocery owner may have spotted the man on a theft-prevention camera in his store, and had begun to move towards him when the bomber blew himself up.

"Our assumption is that he did not intend to blow himself up inside the grocery, but that he might have been waiting for people to congregate at the nearby bus stop," police said, adding that the bomb detonated prematurely due to a technical malfunction.

Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The incident occurred as Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas was holding a series of meeting in the Gaza city with the leaders of violent Palestinian groups, trying to persuade them to stop attacks against Israeli's an important requisite for implementing the US-backed "road map" peace plan.

PTI