At least one person was killed Monday when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at a southern Israeli shopping mall, the Jewish state's first such bombing in more than a year.

An Israeli police officer shouts at the scene of a suicide bombing in the town of Dimona, southern Israel, on Monday.
(Yehuda Lahiany/Associated Press)

A second bomber was shot and killed before he blew himself up, officials said.

One Israeli woman was killed and more than a dozen people were injured in the attack in the desert town of Dimona, home to Israel's nuclear research centre. Government officials dismissed the notion that the suicide bombers were aiming for the country's secretive nuclear reactor, which lies 10 kilometres away.

The militant group al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack, with a spokesman saying the two bombers entered Israel from Egypt after a section of a wall separating the Gaza Strip and Egypt was blown open last month.

Abu Fouad, spokesman for the group, which is an offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, said the operation had been planned for a month.

But Hamas's armed wing also claimed responsibility, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed source. The two Palestinians who died in the attack came from the West Bank city of Hebron, rather than from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, the source said.

Fatah denies involvement 

Israeli police said the first bomber was killed in the blast and the second bomber was shot and killed by an off-duty Israeli police officer. Officials believe the second bomber was waiting until a crowd had gathered before setting off his bomb, said CBC reporter Peter Armstrong.

Israeli media broadcast news of the attack, showing shocked bystanders, ambulances and rescue workers.

In the southern Gaza town of Rafah, gunmen fired their weapons into the air to celebrate the attack while Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha praised the bombing.

A Fatah official in the West Bank denied any involvement in the blast, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. Fatah's Western-backed leader, Abbas, who spoke out against the violence Monday from his West Bank stronghold, is involved in peace talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Israeli officials said the attack will not interfere with peace talks, but that they will continue their military campaign in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

In a statement released Monday, the United States condemned the attacks, as well as "those terrorist groups, including Hamas, which condone these horrific actions."

"We call upon the leaders of the Palestinian Authority, who condemned this attack, to redouble their efforts to act against terrorism," the White House said in a statement.

Southern Israel on alert

Southern Israel has been on alert against militant attacks in recent days since members of the militant Hamas organization breached the border with Egypt on Jan. 23. Egypt resealed the border on Sunday.

Israel temporarily closed its Gaza borders on Jan. 18 after increased Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel. Palestinians say they ramped up their attacks in response to intensified Israeli raids. The border closures blocked deliveries of fuel, food and other supplies to the roughly 1.5 million Gazans.  

Less than a week after the borders were shut, masked Palestinian militants blew several holes in the 11-kilometre metal wall running through the town of Rafah. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians climbed over the wreckage into Egypt, returning with fuel and food, along with items such as motorcycles, carpets, cleaning supplies, crates of cola and even televisions.

The breach made Israel's Negev desert, where Dimona is located, more vulnerable to penetration by Palestinian militants who could enter through Egypt's Sinai desert. Dimona is about 64 kilometres northeast of the porous Egyptian border. Last week, Israel closed a number of popular hiking areas in the south for fear of militant attacks.

The last suicide bombing within Israel was on Jan. 29, 2007. Three Israelis were killed in that attack at a bakery in the southern Israeli city of Eilat.

With files from the Associated Press