blast on board a bus near Prime Minister’s Ariel Sharon’s residence in Central Jerusalem, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens, eyewitnesses said.
Sharon was reportedly not in his residence when the suicide bomber blew himself up, the first such attack inside Israel since Christmas Day.
In a statement to BosNewsLife the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) said the sound of the explosion "reverberated all the way to the southern suburbs of the capital."
The attack took place shortly before 9am and according to eyewitnesses completely decimated the vehicle, believed to have been packed with rush hour commuters, the ICEJ and other reports said.
"It was packed with passengers. When it reached Gaza Street, there was a massive explosion on board," Jerusalem police chief Mickey Levy told Army Radio. "This was a very grave attack indeed."
SHARON IN DESERT
Reuters news agency reported that Prime Minister Sharon was at his ranch in the Negev desert at the time of the bombing, which plunged the tree-lined residential street into a nightmare of blood and panic during morning rush hour.
There was no claim of responsibility, but Palestinian militant groups had pledged revenge for the killing by Israeli soldiers of at least nine Palestinians during gun battles Wednesday, January 28, which erupted when tanks raided the edge of Gaza City.
The Voice of America (VOA) network quoted an Israeli military spokesman as saying the incident began when troops guarding the Jewish settlement of Netzarim saw a group of armed men approaching.
BODY PARTS
Reporters said Thursday’s suicide blast not only destroyed the bus but also shattered windows and scattered body parts up to 50 feet (about 16 metres) around on Gaza Street in central Jerusalem.
"I heard an explosion. I ran back toward the bus," witness Dror Resnick, told Reuters. "It was like a pastoral scene — the sun was shining and it was serene outside — but the bus was a nightmare. Bodies were sitting in their chairs burned, motionless."
"There were burned children sitting together. People started rushing off the bus, but they were still there, not moving," he said.
HOSPITAL STAFFERS
The bus was carrying staffers from Hadassah hospital ending the night shift, radio stations reported. It was unclear what effect the latest violence would have on Israel’s plan to hand over hundreds of prisoners to the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah, later Thursday.
Some Israeli commentators condemned the exchange supervised by German mediators, saying the price is to high.
But Israeli Prime Minister Sharon has insisted that he has no choice but to agree to the terms to secure the life of Israeli businessman Elhanan Tannebaum, who was kidnapped by the Hezbollah more than three years ago.
400 PRISONERS
"In return for our prisoners and Elhanan Tannebaum, Israel will release over 400 prisoners and detainees who are held in Israeli prison; these include both Palestinians, as well as Lebanese," said Sharon’s spokesman Raanan Gissin.
The swap still hangs on identification of the bodies of three Israeli soldiers, abducted on a border patrol in 2000, Reuters reported. Three wooden coffins were seen loading onto a German plane in Beirut before captive businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum boarded the flight for Cologne.
Minutes later, an Israeli military transport with about 30 Arabs aboard took off toward the same German air base. Buses started carrying the first of 400 Palestinian prisoners toward home from the Negev desert prison of Ketziot, witnesses said, Reuters reported.
