Police reported that an explosive was placed on a 12 line bus that was empty of passengers, wounding passengers in an adjacent bus and a private car. Two of the victims were seriously wounded, seven moderately, and the rest lightly.

One person was critically wounded and police estimate he was the terrorist who set the bomb - although they have yet to officially declare the bombing as an Arab terror attack, despite its timing during the current Arab terror wave.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat spoke to Arutz Sheva at the scene, saying, "according to the investigation by the police it seems like there was a small explosive device at the back of the bus. By the severity of the wounded people it's probably a small explosive device, its still under investigation by the police."

"I want to use the opportunity and request the public to be alert, to make sure you open your eyes look for suspicious people. If you see anything, make sure the security people know about it. But continue with your plans," said the mayor.

"Here in Jerusalem and in Israel we go back to normal life as fast as possible. It's part of the deep understanding that if it's a terror attack, they want to deter us from our normal life. And what do we do? What me must do and are doing is - again working on the road, we'll restore the road back as soon as possible, take care of our wounded people, and go back to normal life as fast as possible."

Barkat noted how the bus adjacent to the bus with the bomb on it was emptied before it caught fire, thereby preventing more serious wounds.

"Everyone was taken out of the bus before it caught on fire. It slowly, gradually started catching fire and then went on to the next bus. But thank God, there was nobody on the bus when it caught fire," he said.

"Reminiscent of the Second Intifada"

Daniel Katzenstein, a member of the psychotrauma unit for United Hatzalah of Israel, told Arutz Sheva that when he and his comrades arrived "from a distance we saw the pall of smoke that was reminiscent of the bus bombings in the early 2000s."

"Unfortunately that's were United Hatzalah gained a great deal of its experience, in responding to bus bombings," he said.

Katzenstein's remarks refer to the 2000-2005 Second Intifada or Oslo War, in which over 1,000 Israelis were murdered by Arab terrorists. Bus bombings and suicide bombings were common in the terror war, although Monday's bombing would appear to be the first bus bombing in the current terror wave.

He noted that the medical teams began evacuating the wounded, saying, "there were many people who were far too dangerously close to the bus when it was burning. The first task was actually to get them to a safe place and then to begin to treat them."

While police hesitated to define the bombing as a terrorist attack, the director of the emergency care unit at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem where the wounded were treated estimated that it was indeed a terror attack.

"Some of the wounds of the victims who arrived to us are from nails and bolts that penetrated their bodies. It gives the impression of wounds from a terror attack," determined the doctor.

'Reminiscent of the Second Intifada bus bombings'

Arutz Sheva coverage at the scene: Mayor Barkat calls for alertness, medic notes chilling echoes of 2000 terror war.