WASHINGTON, Aug 11 (AFP) - The United States condemned Wednesday's bombing near an Israeli military checkpoint on the outskirts of Jerusalem the killed one person and injured 13, calling it yet another sign the Palestinians needed to act immediately to rein in violence.
"We condemn this act of terror in Jerusalem," deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said. "In our view, this once again underscores the need for the Palestinian leadership to take immediate and credible steps to end terror and violence.
"Moreover, we think it also shows that terrorist attacks undermine the aspirations and hopes of the Palestinian people," he said.
Both Israelis and Palestinians were injured in the blast near a mobile army checkpoint some 200 metres (yards) from the Qalandia fixed checkpoint, which lies just to the north of Jerusalem.
Hospital sources in the West Bank city of Ramallah said that 60-year-old Salah Abu Sneini was killed in the blast, and six other people were wounded, including a two-year-old child, who was reported to be in critical condition.
Israeli police spokesman Gil Kleiman said three border policemen and four Palestinians had been taken to a Jerusalem hospital for treatment.
Israeli police and military sources initially said they suspected the blast was caused by a suicide bomber or by a car bomb, but police later said it was a roadside bomb detonated by remote control.
Security sources told AFP it appeared the militant carrying the bomb had seen the border police approaching, had quickly left the device on the ground next to a taxi, then detonated it by remote control when they neared the spot.
The attack was claimed by the radical Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a radical armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah movement.
Shortly after the blast, a 16-year-old Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli troops in Balata refugee camp on the outskirts of the northern West Bank town of Nablus, Palestinian medical sources and witnesses said.
Wednesday's violence raised the overall toll since the September 2000 start of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, to 4,225, including 3,228 Palestinians and 926 Israelis, according to an AFP tally.