JERUSALEM - Israeli police say a suicide bomber attacked a bakery in the southern Israeli resort city, Eilat, early Monday. Three Israelis and the suicide bomber were killed in the attack. At least two different Palestinian militant groups are claiming responsibility for the attack.

Police say the bomber struck a small bakery in a residential neighborhood of Eilat, an Israeli resort city on the Red Sea. It is the first suicide bombing ever carried out in Eilat and the first in Israel since last April, when a Palestinian suicide bomber killed ten people in Tel Aviv.

Eilat Police Commander Bruno Stein says it was unclear, at first, whether the explosion was an accident or not. However, Stein says an initial investigation has concluded the explosion was not an accident or the result of criminal activity, but a terrorist attack.

Israeli authorities have declared a nationwide state of alert.

At least two different Palestinian militant groups - Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade - have claimed responsibility for the attack.

Source:  VOA News