A roadside bomb ripped through a US diplomatic convoy in the Gaza Strip yesterday, killing three American security men in the first deadly attack on a US target in three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
US President George W. Bush, who has watched his Middle East peace "road map" falling apart, vowed to "bring the terrorists to justice" and blamed the bombing on the Palestinians' failure to create an effective security force.
Israel Radio said the three-vehicle convoy included representatives from Middle East envoy John Wolf's office and the CIA, but US officials declined comment on the report except to say that Wolf was not in the region at the time.
A silver, armour-plated jeep was reduced to mangled wreckage in the blast, which was apparently detonated by remote control and gouged a deep crater in the road. Body parts and debris were sprayed metres away and a black shoe lay on the ground.
Daniel Kurtzer, US ambassador to Israel, said three security guards were killed and a fourth was wounded in the blast at the entrance to the teeming Jabalya refugee camp.
He said the delegation, escorted by Palestinian police vehicles, was on "official business", including interviewing students hoping to receive US university scholarships.
Speaking at a news conference in Tel Aviv, Kurtzer said the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was sending a team to Gaza and made clear they would play a leading role in the investigation.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. All the main Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, denied involvement.
Militants, who accuse Washington of heavy bias in favour of Israel, have frequently detonated roadside bombs against Israeli troops and tanks operating in parts of the Gaza Strip.
But it was the first time a US convoy had suffered a deadly attack in Israel or the Palestinian territories, where violence has raged since the Palestinian uprising for statehood began in September 2000 after peace talks stalled.
Kurtzer disclosed that a US diplomatic vehicle had been attacked in Gaza in June but declined to elaborate.
After yesterday's bombing, the US embassy advised all US citizens to leave the Gaza Strip for their own safety.
"Palestinian authorities should have acted long ago to fight terror in all its forms," Bush said in a written statement. "The failure to undertake these reforms and dismantle the terrorist organisations constitutes the greatest obstacle to achieving the Palestinian people's dream of statehood."
A US-backed "roadmap" initiative that Wolf was responsible for promoting on the ground has been stalled in recent months by tit-for-tat violence and Palestinian political infighting.