Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction moved this morning to distance itself from the double suicide bombing in Tel Aviv claimed by its main splinter group.
In a statement carried on the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, Fatah also denied the two bombers named by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed Fatah offshoot, had any links to the group which just celebrated its 38th anniversary.
"After checking the membership files we can confirm that the two names mentioned have nothing to do with our organisation," it said. In addition to condemning the attack on civilians - many of them foreign workers - the statement "warns the people behind this attack not to use the name of the movement".
It said the timing of the attack was aimed at undermining scheduled talks between Fatah, the main party within the Palestine Liberation Organisation also headed by Mr Arafat, and other factions, in particular with the hardline Islamic group Hamas in Cairo.
A statement by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades received by AFP in Gaza City after the blast claimed responsibility for the attack near Tel Aviv's Old Central Bus Station.
AFP