A woman was killed by a suicide bomber on Monday in the southern Israeli town of Dimona.

The attack in Dimona, where a top-secret nuclear reactor is located, was the first of its kind in Israel in a year.

On January 29, 2007 three people were killed in the town of Eilat when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up.

According to police, on Monday another suicide bomber was shot by authorities before detonating the bomb he had on him.

The responsibility was claimed by the Army of Palestine, which is a wing of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades along with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Authorities are investigating to see whether the attacker came from Gaza strip infiltrating from Egypt after the border was blown up by Hamas Islamists last month.

An Israeli government official said: "One of the concerns ... was that hardcore terrorists would be filtering down out of Gaza and coming back into Israel through the (Egyptian-Israeli) border. What we are seeing today could well be the direct result of the anarchy we saw on the border with Gaza last week. But we're not sure yet," Reuters reports.

The blast on Monday occurred in Dimona’s crowded commercial center.

A witness told army radio: "We heard a large explosion and people started to run. I saw pieces of flesh flying in the air,” BBC News reports.

According to the Magen David Adom ambulance service, other ten people were injured.

On January 23 when the border was blown up, thousands of Palestinians came unchecked from the Gaza Strip. On Sunday was closed by Egyptian authorities.

According to analysts, the Negev desert, where Dimona is located, would be the best place for the Palestinians that came through Egypt to attack.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade said that it sent the attackers from Ramallah, West Bank, to accomplish the "heroic martyrdom bombing in Dimona".