The fifth Palestinian suicide bomber to strike against Israelis in less than 48 hours detonated a shrapnel-packed bomb outside a mall here late this afternoon, killing a security guard and two bystanders and delivering a new blow to a peace effort that was already reeling. The blast tore a ragged gash through the sheet-metal “Welcome” sign over the mall’s entrance, splashed blood across the pitted limestone of its steps and so disfigured the dead that hours later the authorities were still trying to identify the bomber among the remains. Late tonight, the police said they believed the bomber was a woman. The attack in this northern Israeli town, which wounded more than 50 people, was part of what the Israeli police called a “wave of terror” that has greeted the most intensive international effort to date to end the 31-month conflict. In Washington, President Bush said the violence was meant to destroy the peace effort and called it “sad and pathetic” that some people “cannot stand the thought of peace.” Full Story