Wednesday December 5 2:25 AM ET
Suicide Bombing Shakes Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (AP) - A suicide bomber set off an explosion that rocked the street outside a central Jerusalem hotel Wednesday morning, injuring at least two people, police said.

Blood covered a front wall of the David Citadel Hotel, formerly the Hilton, near the Jaffa Gate, one of the main entrances to Jerusalem's Old City, and pieces of flesh were strewn on the street. The explosion happened just after 7:35 a.m.

Police said the bomber, whose identity was unknown, died in the blast.

``It was a suicide bomber,'' said Jerusalem police chief Micky Levy. ``He crossed the street from one side to another. ... He detonated the explosives that were strapped to his body.''

At the scene, Foreign Ministry spokesman Emanuel Nahshon, said the injured had been waiting at a bus shelter about 25 yards away from the blast.

The explosion followed two days of Israeli military strikes targeting Gaza and the West Bank. Two Palestinians were killed Tuesday, and the strikes hit a security station just yards from an office where Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was working.

The strikes were Israel's response to Palestinian suicide attacks that killed 25 people in Jerusalem and the northern port city of Haifa over the weekend and brought the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a new crisis point.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government said it was sending a stern warning to the Palestinian leader that there would be even harsher reprisals if he did not crack down on militants who have been attacking Israelis.