DATE=03/31/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL/BOMBING (S-UPDATE)

NUMBER=2-288190

BYLINE=LAURIE KASSMAN

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

/// EDS: UPDATES 2-288185 ///

INTRO: Within hours of a suicide bombing in the Israeli port of Haifa that killed at least 15 people, another explosion rocked a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, injuring at least four (update numbers as warranted). The militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the Haifa attack. The group is listed by the U-S State Department as a terrorist organization. Correspondent Laurie Kassman reports the violence comes in the wake of Israel's military operations in the West Bank.

TEXT: A spokesman for the settlement told reporters a suicide bomber blew himself up at a clinic on the edge of the settlement. Efrat is located near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, on the edge of Jerusalem.

The explosion at Efrat settlement comes only two hours after another suicide attack in the northern Israeli port of Haifa.

The Efrat bomb attack is the fifth since the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover last Wednesday. More than 30 people have been killed in the separate attacks.

Israeli security has been on high alert amid intelligence reports that more suicide bombers are on the loose inside Israel.

The latest bombings come while Israeli tanks and troops surround Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah.

Israel says it does not aim to harm Mr. Arafat, but only to isolate him. The army says it is also carrying out a wider campaign to destroy terrorist networks operating in the West Bank. (Signed)

NEB/LK/ALW/TW