Bomb wounds three Israeli teens; siege continues

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- A bomb exploded near a road outside the West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday, injuring three Israeli teen-agers about to board a bus after picking cherries, Israeli radio and a Jewish settler group said.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, the Israeli army staged a new raid on the town of Tulkarem and maintained a siege at Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's battered compound in Ramallah for a second day.

The violence coincided with a Washington visit by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who received strong backing Monday in a meeting with President Bush. Sharon planned talks with U.S. congressional leaders, who have also been supportive of Israel in the Mideast fighting.

The bomb blast occurred as about 40 Israeli teen-agers who had picked cherries were boarding a bus south of Hebron near the adjacent Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba.