A roadside bomb ripped through a US diplomatic convoy in the Gaza Strip yesterday and Israel Radio said four security men were killed in the first attack on American officials in three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

The convoy included representatives from US Middle East envoy John Wolf?s office and from the CIA, the radio said. But US officials said Wolf was not in the region at the time.

A silver Cherokee jeep used by US diplomats was completely destroyed by an apparent roadside bomb, which left a large crater. Blood and wreckage were splattered metres away and a black shoe lay on the ground.

It was the first time that a convoy of US diplomats had been targeted in Israel or the Palestinian territories where violence has raged since a Palestinian uprising for statehood began three years ago.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie quickly condemned the attack and promised an investigation. A Reuters witness saw a detonator wire stretched for about 100 metres away from the blown-up vehicle into a factory area at the entrance to the Jabalya refugee camp, near Gaza City. ?We were inside our storage room, and heard the siren of police cars approaching. A few seconds later there was a huge explosion and shrapnel from body parts and debris from damaged M-16s (assault rifles) were scattered everywhere,? said witness Ahmed Samir.

Israel Radio and security officials said four people were killed. The nationalities of the dead were not immediately known though the radio said they were security guards.

A US embassy spokesman confirmed that a US vehicle had been hit by an explosion in the Gaza Strip. He said the car was ?a security contractors? car, it was not an embassy vehicle per se?.

Roadside bombs have frequently been detonated against Israeli troops operating in parts of the Gaza Strip. The discovery of a detonator wire by a Reuters correspondent at the scene indicated the blast may have been timed to hit the convoy. ?I was standing by the side of the road when a convoy led by a Palestinian police car drove by. It was followed by two foreign jeeps and at the back there was another Palestinian police car,? a witness, Khaled Abu Nour, told Reuters.

?There was an explosion and one of the two jeeps blew up and was torn apart. We saw on the ground three people dead. They looked like they were foreigners....a fourth was badly wounded.?

Hospital workers bundled up body parts in a bedsheet and one body was brought to the morgue in Shifa hospital, Palestinian medics said. The Soroka hospital in Beersheba said a seriously wounded victim was being evacuated there by helicopter.

Israeli tanks appeared to be moving towards the area after the blast, Palestinian security officials said.

The US embassy in Tel Aviv advised all Americans to leave the Gaza strip. ?We put out a warden message to Americans in Gaza to leave for their own safety?, embassy spokesman Pau Patin said as US investigators probed the attack.

Palestinian condemnation

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie condemned the roadside bombing of a US diplomatic convoy in the Gaza Strip and vowed to probe the incident. ?We strongly condemn this incident regardless of who is behind it and we express deep regret over the killing and injury,? Qurie told reporters after a meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen.

?We will carry out the necessary investigation from our side and will follow up the issue.? Qurie also sent condolences to the families of the victims.

Petersen said, ?This use of violence is really sad,? and called for implementation of a US-backed ?road map? peace plan to end a Palestinian uprising against Israel. The plan, which envisions a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank by 2005, has been derailed by persistent violence in recent months.

Nidal al-Mughrabi