The United States on Thursday asked the Palestinian authority to crack down on violence after Tuesday's deadly suicide bombing attack in Israel.

"While we welcome President Abbas' condemnation of this heinous attack, we now are looking to the Palestinian Authority to take some concrete steps," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said at a briefing.

Casey said that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke by phone with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday and urged the Palestinian leadership "to take immediate actions to find those who are responsible for the recent bombing in Israel and bring them to justice."

According to Israeli police, a suicide bomber killed two people and wounded some 30 others at the Hasharon shopping mall in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya late Tuesday. This was the first suicide bombing attack in Israel since a bombing outside a Tel Aviv nightclub in February.

Source: Xinhua