Foreigners hit in suicide bomb strike on Tel Aviv

Yitzhak Teva was cutting hair in his barbershop near the run-down old Tel Aviv bus station at about 6.30 last night when the first bomb went off.

"Half the wall fell in," said Mr Teva, "and I was covered in broken glass. I shut the shop, then there was the next explosion."

Most of the 20 bystanders killed and up to 100 wounded by the Palestinian suicide bombers were thought to be foreign workers who live in the narrow, shabby lanes, congregate in the area's pubs and coffee houses, and shop in its cheap clothes and shoe stores.

The Tel Aviv police chief, Commander Yossi Sedbon, said many of the victims were so badly mutilated that it would be difficult to identify them. The Israeli authorities appealed to foreign workers, many of them in the country illegally, to come forward either for treatment or to help with identification. They promised not to penalise them.

Israel's Hebrew radio and television stations broke into their emergency coverage to repeat the message in English, Spanish and French and gave emergency numbers where the workers could get information in their own languages. The Foreign Ministry said it would make it easy for next of kin of the dead and wounded to enter the country.

A Filipina carer, identified as Gloria, repeated the appeal in her language on Israel Radio. A man from Ghana, who called himself Godfriend, said he was lucky that he and his family were inside a shop. He added that they were in a state of permanent alert following earlier bombings in the area. After this one, they didn't intend to stay in Israel much longer, he said.

The bombers struck at a peak time when the area was crowded. They blew themselves up in parallel streets, 200 metres apart, within 30 seconds of each other. Another witness, Moshe, was in the Azulai coffee shop. "A few seconds after the first explosion, there was another explosion," he said. "I was hurled to the floor. I saw many bodies on the ground and I ran away."

Police said the bombs were huge. They were packed with nails and ball bearings to maximise the injuries. At least seven of the wounded were in critical condition in intensive care last night. Ron Huldai, the mayor of Tel Aviv, said after visiting the hospitals: "We are in a state of war. Until we solve the basic problem, we shall go on suffering."

A spokesman for Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister, blamed the Palestinian Authority. "This terrorist attack," he claimed, "has earned the Palestinian Authority's stamp of approval. It is a direct result of persistent incitement coming out of the Palestinian Authority and its refusal to rein in the terrorists in its midst."

There were reports of conflicting claims of responsibility from the Islamic Jihad group and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. Three weeks before a general election, Mr Sharon's instinct will be to respond dramatically. Shaul Mofaz, the Defence Minister and former army chief, is expected to renew his demand for the expulsion of Mr Arafat.

Israeli commentators acknowledged, however, that the government faced a dilemma. It cannot invade the West Bank, as it has done in the past, because its troops are already installed in the towns, villages and refugee camps. They have had a measure of success. Last night's bombing was the first inside Israel in six weeks.

Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, telephoned to register the Bush administration's condolences. But Israeli analysts predicted Washington would continue pressing Mr Sharon to do nothing drastic while President George Bush is preparing to invade Iraq.