( dpa ) - The United States condemned the suicide bombing that took place in Israel on Monday, the first such deadly attack in a year.
"That was terrible news to hear," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
One woman and the two bombers died in the mall attack in Dimona, a remote town about 30 kilometres south-east of the capital of the southern Israeli Negev desert, Beersheba.
McCormack said the attack should persuade the international community of the need to support the Israeli-Palestinian peace process the Bush administration jump-started at the Annapolis, Maryland conference in November.
"All of these incidents point to the fact that we need to do everything that we possibly can, along with our partners in the international system, to help the Israelis and the Palestinians come to a political agreement," he said.
The woman died after the first blast. The second bomber was shot and killed by police before he could detonate his device. The attack prompted fears that Palestinian militants were infiltrating Israel through the Egyptian Sinai peninsula.