LOS ANGELES, Oct. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- US President George W. Bush on Wednesday condemned a bombing attack that killed three Americans in Gaza, while blaming Palestinian authorities for failing to fight terrorism.

...He added that the US government is "working closely with the appropriate officials to bring the terrorists to justice."

Bush blasted Palestinians for failing to contain the violence....

...A remote-controlled bomb exploded under a US diplomatic convoy Wednesday, ripping apart an armored van and killing three Americans in the first attack on an official US target in the Palestinian territories.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. In the past, Palestinian militant groups had tried to avoid attacking US targets for fear of severe retribution from Washington.

Wash BizJournal -October 15

... The three Americans killed in a Wednesday terrorist bombing in the Gaza Strip worked for Reston-based DynCorp.

AP -October 16

Palestinian police arrested three suspects Thursday for a deadly attack on U.S. diplomats, briefly exchanging fire with the militants during a nighttime raid in this crowded shantytown, officials said.

The suspects are members of the Popular Resistance Committees, a group of dozens of armed men from various factions, many former members of the security forces and disgruntled followers of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.

Israeli officials said the group, formed after the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting three years ago, has ties to Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas. The Palestinian group has blown up three Israeli tanks with massive remote-controlled bombs in the past three years - the same technique used in Wednesday's attack, which killed three American security guards and wounded a fourth.

No Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for the first deadly attack against U.S. official targets in the Palestinian areas. The bombing was likely to increase U.S. pressure on the Palestinian leadership to move against militants.

NY Daily News -October 17

...An obscure Al Qaeda splinter group, the Abu Hafs Al-Masri Brigades, claimed responsibility for the Baghdad Hotel bombing in a fax this week, the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported yesterday.