JERUSALEM BUS BLAST WOUNDS 21
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JERUSALEM — A bus exploded Monday in Jerusalem, wounding 21, in what police called a "terror attack."
Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the incident was caused by an explosive device. The blast then ripped through a second bus next to it, causing both buses to catch on fire, Channel 2 said. Plumes of black smoke could be seen miles from the scene.
Rosenfeld said two people on board the bus that exploded were seriously wounded, while the other injured people were in a nearby bus and car that were also damaged.
Police are trying to determine whether one of the two critically injured bus passengers was a possible suicide bomber.
"Since we know there was an explosive device that exploded on a bus, there is no doubt that it was a terror attack," said Yoram Halevy, chief of the Jerusalem District Police.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said the explosion was caused by a "small bomb" but did not elaborate further.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed retaliation, saying, "We will locate those who prepared this explosive device."
Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, issued a statement praising the bus bombing but did not take responsibility for it, the Associated Press reported.
Alexis Hope Silverman, a Jerusalem mother of three, said she heard sirens "screeching non-stop for ten minutes straight. I knew something happened. I’m used to sirens but this was different.”
Hannah Jo Kanarek said she was sitting in her car at an intersection not far from the explosion.
"I watched all the emergency services racing towards the area. I knew immediately what it was,” she said.
The blast comes amid a wave of Palestinian attacks on Israelis the past several months and raised initial fears of suicide attacks a decade ago in Israeli cities, the AP reported.
Attacks on Israeli buses by suicide bombers were frequent during the Palestinian uprising in 2000-2005 but they have been rare since, according to Reuters.
