Police said they killed a second attacker before he had a chance to detonate his explosives belt.
It was the first suicide attack in Israel in a year, and officials were investigating whether the attacker came in through Egypt after Palestinian militants breached the Gaza-Egypt border last month. A violent offshoot of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement claimed responsibility, complicating recently renewed peace efforts.
Government officials dismissed the notion that the heavily guarded Dimona nuclear reactor was the target of the attackers. The explosion took place in an industrial area about 10 kilometers from the reactor site.
"We heard a large explosion and people started to run. I saw pieces of flesh flying in the air," a witness identified only by her first name, Revital, told Army Radio.
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