Jerusalem/Haifa  - The Islamic Hamas movement wants to boost its position in the West Bank to launch attacks on Israel, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert charged Sunday.

Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Olmert told ministers that "terrorist organizations' attempts to perpetrate attacks within Israel's borders and in the heart of the country are an ongoing affair."

The premier made his comments the morning after a large-scale bomb attack in Haifa shopping centre was averted, when one of several explosive devices hidden in a parked vehicle outside a major shopping centre malfunctioned.

"We have no doubt that a major attack was prevented," police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said. "Thousands of Israelis would have been at the mall at that time."

He said explosives experts had also defused several bombs.

"Only through the awareness of citizens and the quick actions of the Israel Police did a miracle occur and this terrorist attack ended without casualties," Olmert said Sunday.

Israeli media reported that a shadowy group calling itself "Free Galilee" claimed responsibility for the car bomb.

The group has taken responsibility for several attacks in Israel, but none of its memebrs have ever been arrested and some analysts theorise that it is a front organization for Hamas or for Hezbollah.

Police said the vehicle belonged to an resident of the Arab East Jerusalem.

According to Rosenfeld, police were alerted after passers-by became suspicious of the car, which was parked in the centre's parking lot.

Police across northern Israel have been place on a high state of alert, in case of further attacks, especially at locations where large numbers of the public congregate.

The mall and its surrounding area was closed off after the car- bomb was discovered, but was reopened Sunday morning.

Haifa has been the scene of several previous bombing attacks, especially before Israel constructed its controversial "security barrier" along the West Bank.

The most notorious took place on October 4, 2003, when a female suicide bomber blew herself up in a restaurant in the city, killing 21 people and injuring dozens more. dpa