A bomb exploded in a Palestinian elementary school in the West Bank Tuesday, slightly wounding five pupils, Palestinian officials and Israeli military sources said. Police said they were investigating the explosion at the school, which is in an area under full Israeli security control south of the West Bank city of Hebron, but did not have any leads so far. Manal Ishriteh, a municipal official in the town of Yatta where the school was located, said five children aged from five to eight years old were slightly wounded when the bomb exploded near a bathroom during a break in classes.

Army sappers were called in and detonated a second device in a controlled explosion.

There was no claim of responsibility for Tuesday's incident.

A Jewish vigilante group took responsibility for a schoolyard explosion in a Palestinian village under Israeli security control on the outskirts of Jerusalem early this year.

At least 1,542 Palestinians and 591 Israelis have been killed in violence since the Palestinians rose up against Israeli occupation in September 2000.

Israel Threatens Lebanon on Water

Israel will not allow Lebanon to divert water from a border river shared by the two countries, Israel's defense minister warned Tuesday, a day after a U.S. water expert inspected a Lebanese pumping project there.

Israel's foreign minister said he would raise the issue later Tuesday with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in New York.

On Monday, the U.S. expert watched as Lebanese workers laid pipes to pump water from the Wazzani River, a tributary of the Hasbani River which flows into the Jordan River, a major source of water for Israel. Lebanon says it needs the water for parched villages in the south.

Lebanese President Emile Lahoud has said the project will continue. The leader of Lebanon's Resistance Hezbollah group has said Hezbollah will "cut off Israel's hands" if it uses military force to stop the scheme.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Israeli soldier points his rifle at a Palestinian man as he check his identification in the West Bank city of Hebron on September 15, 2002. Israeli army chief Moshe Yaalon said that Israel was prepared for an Iraqi attack after Washington announced it would act against Saddam Hussein with or without world support. (Nayef Hashlamoun/Reuters)
- Sep 15 9:39 AM ET