Saturday, February 26 2005 16:05 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Tel Aviv: Four Israelis were killed and 53 wounded when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up while queuing outside a nightclub in Israel's main commercial city of Tel Aviv just before midnight, a civil Defence official said.

It was the first suicide bombing inside Israel since an attack on November 1 and left a major hole in a ceasefire announced by Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas at a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon earlier this month.

A cell of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a Palestinian militant group loosely affiliated to the mainstream Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to the agencies.

The attack was roundly condemned by the Palestinian Government, saying it was contrary to the national interest.

While Sharon announced at the summit in Egypt that all military operations against the Palestinians were being halted, Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra said that the blast showed Israel might have to take matters back into its own hands.

And US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice condemned the bombing in the "strongest possible terms", urging Palestinian leaders to act immediately to deal with those behind it.

Tel Aviv's police chief David Tsour said that the attack took place at the entrance to the disco, called The Stage, situated near the sea front. Nearly all of the victims were in their late teens or twenties.

Three people were confirmed dead on arrival at the nearby Ichilov hospital, medical sources said.