At least three people were killed Monday morning by a suicide bomber, who blew himself up at a local bakery in the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat, Israel's local daily Ha'aretz reported.

A spokesman for Israel Police was quoted by the daily as saying that "three people and the bomber were killed " in the blast.

"This was a suicide bombing and the bomber is one of the dead. He apparently entered with a bag or an explosives belt and blew himself up inside the shop," a police officer in Eilat told Israel 's Army Radio.

Three Palestinian military groups, the Islamic Jihad, the al- Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian National Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement and the previously unknown "Army of Believers" claimed later responsibility for the attack.

Islamic Jihad said that the bomber had originally set out from the West Bank.

Witnesses said that body parts were strewn throughout the bakery.

Israeli police initially thought that the explosion was caused by a gas leak but then found out that it had been caused by a bomb.

Eilat District Police has intensified its security presence in the city and is carrying out an investigation. Eilat police chief Bruno Stein said the police believed there could be more bombers in the city.

The emergency services raised their alert level to the highest.

The bombing is the first to strike Israel since last April, when a suicide bomber blew himself up in Tel Aviv's old bus station, killing eight people.

Eilat, at the northern tip of the Red Sea, is a popular resort for Israelis and foreigners. The coastal city has largely been spared the violence of the past years.

Source: Xinhua