8:42pm UK, Tuesday August 31, 2004

Bombs have exploded on two buses in the southern Israeli city of Be'er Sheva, killing at least 16 people.          

Around 100 more were injured when the bombs went off on buses in the town's main street.

180 bus blast suicide bomber beersheba israel

Devastation caused by blasts

One bus was left in flames while the windows were blown out of the second vehicle.         

Police sources said one bomber had boarded each of the buses several moments before the explosions.

A third explosion was also reported near a shopping centre in the town.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli army caught a Palestinian man strapped with explosives as he tried to cross into Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Be'er Sheva is 25 miles west of Gaza City.Radical Palestinian group Hamas said it was behind the suicide attacks, the first in Israel in six months.

Suicide bombers last struck in March, killing 10 people at the southern port of Ashdod.         

That attack prompted Israel to assassinate the spiritual leader of the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said there would be no let-up in his government's "fight against terrorism".

"The struggle against terror will be pursued to the fullest extent," he told reporters.

Palestinian authority spokesman Saeb Erekat condemned the latest bombings, saying: "Hate breeds hate, bullets bring more bullets."