The first Palestinian resistance bombing in two months tore apart a packed Israeli bus in the port city of Haifa on Wednesday, killing at least 15 people and wounding about 40, police said.The explosion ripped the roof off bus number 37, turned the vehicle into a charred wreck and hurled bodies out onto a main street at the entrance to the Carmeliya neighborhood in Israel's third largest city.

The first resistance attack since Israel's new rightist government was sworn in dealt a fresh blow to hopes of a breakthrough to end 2-1/2 years of violence and to U.S. hopes of calm in the region as it prepares for a possible war in Iraq .

"My boss and I stepped out after lunch. We heard an enormous explosion. Body parts, hands, legs, glass and debris flew from the bus to right in front of the hairdresser salon," said Michael Afuta, 20, who works at the nearby hairdresser's.

"The salon shook from the force. Glass broke, lights went out. I ran to the bus but I was so scared of another blast that after a few seconds I came back....It was horrific."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, the first in the 29-month-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation since 23 people were killed in a bus station and pedestrian mall in Tel Aviv on January 5.

Police said the bomber had a large bomb strapped to his body. The blast from the nail-packed bomb, the trademark of resistance activists , sprayed nearby cars with blood and showered bus seats and victims' shoes onto the street.

Rescue workers draped several bodies still lying in the bus with blankets and one body was left hanging out of a window.

"We are talking about a suicide bombing and are checking whether the attacker had just got on bus number 37 or decided to explode outside at this station," said Yakov Borovsky, police commander for northern Israel.

LARGE NUMBER OF CASUALTIES

Police said at least 15 people were killed. It was not clear whether the figure included the bomber.

"The number of wounded is large. It occurred at a relatively busy time when students end their day of study. The bus had a large number of passengers," Borovsky told Israel radio.

Police sources said the death toll could rise because there were more body parts at the scene.

Intensified Israeli occupation army blockades and curfews in the nearby West Bank since mid-2002 have reduced the number of resistance attacks recently but Israeli police say they continue to thwart bombing attempts almost daily.

The Israeli government said President Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority was to blame for the attack.

"The Palestinian Authority has been doing absolutely nothing to stop this horrendous blood trail of killing and carnage.

There was a deceptive lull in attacks mainly because of the success of our security services," said a government spokesman.

Arafat has said repeatedly that efforts to end the violence are hindered by Israeli occupation army's blockades in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority issued a statement condemning the bombing.

"The leadership announces its condemnation to this operation in which civilians, who are not part of the war of annihilation waged by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people, were killed," it said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new coalition government, which is mainly made up of rightwing parties and was sworn in last Thursday, did not say how it would respond.

The coalition includes ministers who want Arafat expelled and have demanded a tougher line against the uprising than the previous coalition, which included the relatively dovish Labour Party. Labour is not part of the new government.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli occupation troops arrested 20 Palestinians throughout the West Bank and demolished the home of an Islamic resistance in a continued security clampdown.

The fresh sweep followed a day of clashes in which three Palestinians were killed. Israel drew criticism from the United States and Britain over Palestinian civilian casualties.

Israel has reoccupied every West Bank city except for Jericho since a wave of Palestinian bombings last summer.

The toll before the blast was at least 1,891 Palestinians and 706 Israelis killed since the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000 after peace talks on a Palestinian state stalled.

PHOTO CAPTION

The first Palestinian resistance bombing in two months ripped apart a crowded bus in the Israeli port city of Haifa on March 5, 2003, killing at least 10 people and injuring about 30. The bomb ripped the roof off the municipal bus and set it ablaze in a busy street as it left a station. Bodies were thrown across the street. (Reuters Graphi