Suicide bomber kills five Israelis

An Islamic suicide bomber blew up a commuter bus yesterday, killing six people in the heart of Israel, but the Prime Minister,Yitzhak Rabin, vowed that Israeli peace moves with the PLO would go on.

Islamic militants claimed responsibility for the bomb, which transformed a gleaming business district into a spectacle of carnage and fury. "Hands flew in the air and heads flew from the windows of the bus. It was unbearable," a witness said.

An anonymous caller to the Associated Press news agency claimed the bombing was carried out by the military wing of the Islamic group Hamas, which opposes the Israel-PLO peace process. A caller to Israel Radio attributed the attack to followers of Yehiya Ayash. Ayash, a fugitive who tops Israel's Most Wanted list, is known as the Engineer and is believed to have masterminded Hamas bombings that have claimed a total of 55 lives.

By last night, four of the victims had been identified and all were elderly - ranging in age from 60 to 75. Police said fragments of a body found at the centre of the blast amid charred metal and shards of glass might be that of the bomber.

Mr Rabin suspended the lagging peace negotiations with the Palestinians, but insisted that the peace process must not be derailed. "I know it's hard," he told a meeting of Labour MPs, "but we must stick to the way we have chosen and are pursuing. We mustn't let the crazy and murderous actions of these people stop us continuing to solve once and for all the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."

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Workers in the skyscrapers overhead peered out of airconditioned offices as Orthodox Jewish burial crews scoured the bus and sidewalk for scraps of human flesh.

Hundreds of angry onlookers chanted "Death to Arabs" and jeered Mr Rabin when he arrived to inspect the scene.

The attack came a day before the 25 July target date set by Israel and the PLO for reaching accord on expanding the 14-month-old Gaza-Jericho autonomy throughout the West Bank.