Related: Palestinian suicide bomber kills 6 in Tel Aviv

    BERLIN, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Germany on Monday expressed its strongest condemnation at the suicide bomb attack in Tel Aviv earlier in the day, urging the Palestinian government to disarm terrorist groups.

    In a statement, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also expressed his condolence and sympathy for the victims of the attack.

    At least eight people were killed and another 40 wounded when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up near the old central bus station in southern Tel Aviv on Monday afternoon.

    In the brief statement, Steinmeier called on the new Palestinian government to take up the international obligation to disarm terrorist groups.

    "I urgently urged the new Palestinian government to observe its international obligations, disarm terrorist groups and smash the terrorist infrastructure," he said.

    "It will be a fateful beginning for the new government if it were not to confront acts of terrorism clearly and energetically," he added.

    The Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed ring of Fatah, have issued separate claims of responsibility for the attack, saying it was a natural response to Israeli massacres committed against the Palestinians.

    The Palestinian suicide bomber was identified as Sami Salim Mohamed Hammad, a member of Saraya al-Quds, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, from the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

    In Gaza, the Hamas-led Palestinian government said that Monday's suicide attack resulted from Israeli military escalation and ongoing killings of the Palestinians.

    "We have repeatedly made it clear that the Israeli occupation was the reason for tension and continuing circle of confrontation," Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Palestinian cabinet, said in a statement. Enditem