Casualties in Jerusalem bus blast, cause unclear: Israeli police

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

World | Mon Apr 18, 2016 12:26pm EDT

Casualties in Jerusalem bus blast, cause unclear: Israeli police

An explosion aboard a bus in Jerusalem caused around 20 casualties on Monday, Israeli media said, and police said it may have been a militant attack or the result of a fire from other causes.

Television images showed smoke billowing from two burned-out buses, one of which apparently set fire to the other, on Derech Hebron, an area in southwest Jerusalem close to the boundary with the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Smoke billowed over the horizon.

It was not immediately clear if the casualties included fatalities. Israel's Magen David Adom ambulances service said it had taken 10 wounded people to hospitals and that others remained at the site of the blast.

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An Israeli police spokeswoman initially said there were indications that Monday's incident was a militant attack, but in an updated statement said it may have begun when an empty bus caught fire, ignited another bus that had passengers aboard.

(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-blast-idUSKCN0XF1YC

EDIT: Reuters ticker: Jerusalem bus blast caused by bomb - mayor's spokeswoman (no link yet)

[henank]

1. It was a terror attack, a bomb on the bus, police confirm

http://www.timesofisrael.com/several-injured-in-bus-blaze-in-jerusalem/

At least 21 people were injured in a bus bombing in Jerusalem Monday afternoon, police said. Two of them were badly injured, one of them critically.

The number 12 bus exploded as it was passing near the Talpiot neighborhood in the southern end of the capital carrying a number of passengers at around 5:45 p.m., police said. The blast set a car and a second empty bus on fire, injuring several more people.

Jerusalem police chief Yarom Halevy told media the blast was caused by an explosive device placed on the bus, but it was unclear how the bomb got there and if the attack was an attempted suicide bombing.

...

Aharoni said the police had not found ball bearings and other chunks of metal often used in the past by terrorists carrying out bus bombings, but stressed that this was not a definitive factor in establishing what had happened.

Avi Rivkind, a trauma surgeon at Hadassah Hospital, by contrast, told Army Radio the injuries were consistent with previous terror attacks, including the use of metal pieces in an apparent bomb.

There has been talk on the Israeli news that this was a "work accident", i.e. the terrorist was transporting the bomb for use elsewhere, and it exploded prematurely. I'm trying to find a source for that info now.

There are very dramatic pictures at the ToI link.

[Eugene]

2. Jerusalem bus bomb wounds 16, Netanyahu hints at Palestinian link

Source: Reuters

World | Mon Apr 18, 2016 8:45pm EDT

Jerusalem bus bomb wounds 16, Netanyahu hints at Palestinian link

A bomb blew up a bus and set fire to another in Jerusalem on Monday, wounding 16 people in an attack that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu linked to a six-month-old wave of Palestinian street violence.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility from any Palestinian factions for the blast. Israeli officials declined to assign direct blame.

They said two of the casualties had not yet been identified and may have been bombers.

Suicide bombings on Israeli buses were a hallmark of the Palestinian revolt of 2000-2005 but have been rare since. With Palestinians carrying out less organized stabbing, car-ramming and gun attacks since October, Israel has been braced for an escalation.

"We will settle accounts with these terrorists," Netanyahu said in a speech, referring to whoever executed the bus attack.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-blast-idUSKCN0XF1YC

[Little Tich]

3. I'm glad nobody got killed.

20 people injured is still bad, though.