Just before 5:30 PM, a very powerful explosion occurred inside of a Jerusalem city bus #14A on Jaffa Road in downtown Jerusalem, right in front of the Klal Shopping Center and across from Davidka Square. According to reports, there are sixteen murdered and some 80 wounded, amongst them 5 in serious condition.
Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy says that an Arab suicide bomber, dressed as a religious hareidi man, perpetrated the atrocity. He said the terrorist had boarded the bus at the Machane Yehuda market, one block away from the site of the bombing.
The Hamas terrorist organization claimed responsibility for the attack. A Hamas spokesman announced that the bombing "is a message to all the Zionist criminals that they are not safe and that the Palestinian fighters are capable of reaching them everywhere."
Although several media outlets, as well as Hamas itself hint that the attack was a response to Tuesday's failed counter-terror operation by the IDF, Haaretz reports that security sources say that the two incidents were not linked, and emphasize that the terrorists could not have planned the bus bombing in such a short period of time.
Police Commissioner Shlomo Aharonishki refrained from linking the bus bombing to the failed elimination of Hamas number two man Abdel Aziz Rantisi.
In the last two days, the intelligence community has issued numerous high-level warnings for terrorist attacks. According to Israeli intelligence officials, the past two weeks has seen a sharp increase in attempts by Arabs to perpetrate attacks.
Several eye-witness accounts from Jaffa Road:
Moshe: "I was in a crosswalk next to the Klal shopping center. I heard such a loud explosion, it was terrifying. Bodies were all over, it so terrible, [here he broke up crying and could not continue]"
Moshe: "I was nearby. It was the number 14 bus. It exploded while the bus was at a stop. I helped pull the driver out of the window. It was an unusually powerful explosion."
Another eye-witness:
"The bus is totally destroyed; the roof is completely torn off. All the windows are blown out. Smoke is still coming out. Bodies are strewn all around. Unlike previous attacks in which one part of the bus was clearly more severely damaged than another, I am looking right at the bus and the entire bus is blown up. The whole bus is totally destroyed."
A parking inspector named Danny told Israel radio: "I was right next to Klal shopping center. The scene is very difficult to see. We cannot allow this to continue to happen. A few people succeeded in getting out of the bus, but many many are inside - dead and wounded. We helped to get people into ambulances. The ambulances arrived within seconds."
In the hours following the attack, a spontaneous demonstration against the Road Map and continued Israeli concessions under fire formed at the site of the attack.
Emergency Information Phone numbers for all Jerusalem hospitals:
Bikur Holim 1255123
Shaarei Tzedek: 1255125
Hadassah Hospital (Mt. Scopus) 1255121
Hadassah Hospital (Ein Kerem) 1255122
Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy says that an Arab suicide bomber, dressed as a religious hareidi man, perpetrated the atrocity. He said the terrorist had boarded the bus at the Machane Yehuda market, one block away from the site of the bombing.
The Hamas terrorist organization claimed responsibility for the attack. A Hamas spokesman announced that the bombing "is a message to all the Zionist criminals that they are not safe and that the Palestinian fighters are capable of reaching them everywhere."
Although several media outlets, as well as Hamas itself hint that the attack was a response to Tuesday's failed counter-terror operation by the IDF, Haaretz reports that security sources say that the two incidents were not linked, and emphasize that the terrorists could not have planned the bus bombing in such a short period of time.
Police Commissioner Shlomo Aharonishki refrained from linking the bus bombing to the failed elimination of Hamas number two man Abdel Aziz Rantisi.
In the last two days, the intelligence community has issued numerous high-level warnings for terrorist attacks. According to Israeli intelligence officials, the past two weeks has seen a sharp increase in attempts by Arabs to perpetrate attacks.
Several eye-witness accounts from Jaffa Road:
Moshe: "I was in a crosswalk next to the Klal shopping center. I heard such a loud explosion, it was terrifying. Bodies were all over, it so terrible, [here he broke up crying and could not continue]"
Moshe: "I was nearby. It was the number 14 bus. It exploded while the bus was at a stop. I helped pull the driver out of the window. It was an unusually powerful explosion."
Another eye-witness:
"The bus is totally destroyed; the roof is completely torn off. All the windows are blown out. Smoke is still coming out. Bodies are strewn all around. Unlike previous attacks in which one part of the bus was clearly more severely damaged than another, I am looking right at the bus and the entire bus is blown up. The whole bus is totally destroyed."
A parking inspector named Danny told Israel radio: "I was right next to Klal shopping center. The scene is very difficult to see. We cannot allow this to continue to happen. A few people succeeded in getting out of the bus, but many many are inside - dead and wounded. We helped to get people into ambulances. The ambulances arrived within seconds."
In the hours following the attack, a spontaneous demonstration against the Road Map and continued Israeli concessions under fire formed at the site of the attack.
Emergency Information Phone numbers for all Jerusalem hospitals:
Bikur Holim 1255123
Shaarei Tzedek: 1255125
Hadassah Hospital (Mt. Scopus) 1255121
Hadassah Hospital (Ein Kerem) 1255122