A former policeman from Finchley cheated death by 15 minutes after escaping the impact of a suicide bomb blast in Israel in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Barry Gilbert, 45, who emigrated to Israel last year but still owns a house in Links View, was playing the keyboards on stage at a bar in Tel Aviv when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance after failing to get past a security guard. Two of Mr Gilbert's friends were among four people killed. Another friend, one of more than 50 injured, had a hand blown off.

Speaking from Israel, Mr Gilbert said: "I was playing with a full band and the next minute there was a big orange flash from the front of the bar. Then there was a big bang. To start with I thought one of the spotlights had fallen off the ceiling. Then I realised, when I smelt the burning hair, that it was a bomb.

"Two of my friends were lying dead in the street and it was total carnage out there. People had been blown apart, literally. One of them was the guitarist in my band, who had just taken a break. Someone else had taken his guitar while he walked out to get a breath of fresh air.

"Fifteen minutes before, we had both been sitting in my car, which was parked bang outside the front entrance, having a chat. He ended up on the floor underneath my car. He's left a wife and two kids.

"Half of the suicide bomber, his torso, was jammed up in the ceiling dripping blood. We had to walk underneath to get out of the club and I got blood all over me."

Mr Gilbert added: "This is another cynical attempt by the terrorists to disrupt the peace process. If these Palestinians stopped this tomorrow there would be no way the Israeli government wouldn't do a deal with them. It's what the majority of people in Israel want. But they the terrorists are not interested in the state of Palestine. They just want to kill Jewish people."

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

April 30, 2003 17:00