16-year-old suicide bomber in Tel Aviv

A 16-year-old Palestinian laden with explosives blew himself up Monday in a crowded outdoor market in Tel Aviv, killing three Israelis, wounding 32 and scattering body parts and blood-spattered vegetables on the ground. The bomber's mother said the militants who dispatched him were "immoral."

The attack tested Israel's promise to show restraint during the absence of the ailing Yasser Arafat. Palestinian leaders -- including Arafat -- immediately condemned the attack, the first since a Sept. 22 bombing in Jerusalem.

The attack was the 117th suicide bombing since the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in 2000 and was the first since Arafat left for France, where he has been treated since Friday for an unknown disease. In all, 494 Israelis have been killed in such attacks.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a PLO faction, claimed responsibility, identifying the assailant as Eli Amer Alfar, from the Askar refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus.

Alfar was among the youngest Palestinian suicide bombers -- only one other was as young as 16 -- and his parents lashed out at the militants who recruited him.

"It's immoral to send someone so young," said Samir Abdullah, 45, Alfar's mother. "They should have sent an adult who understands the meaning of his deeds."

Abdel Rahim, 53, Alfar's father, said his son woke him up Monday and asked for two shekels -- 50 cents.

"Two shekels, that's what boys ask for -- it's not money for men," he said. "He kissed me on the cheek and hand and left, and I went back to sleep."

The other 16-year-old blew himself up at an army checkpoint on Nov. 3, wounding a soldier.

Source: Agencies