A suicide bomber blew himself up on an Egged bus in Jerusalem early this morning, killing seven Israelis and wounding at least twenty, four of them seriously.
The attack struck bus line 6, as it traveled through the French Hill neighborhood in northern Jerusalem, shortly before 6 am.
Israeli police said the terrorist dressed up as a religious Jew and detonated the bomb near the front of the bus. All the wounded were evacuated to nearby hospitals.
In a separate incident, which occurred a short time after the bus attack, a suicide bomber blew himself up near a police checkpoint near the northern Jerusalem district of Neve Yaakov. No-one was injured in that attack.
Jerusalem police chief Mickey Levy said that the second bomber blew himself up after being called to stop by border policemen manning a checkpoint in the Dahiat al-Barid neighborhood. Levy noted that the checkpoint was one of several set up immediately after the first attack, as police sought to track those who had dispatched the bomber.
Following this morning’s attacks, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon cancelled a trip to Washington, where he was due to discuss the “road map” to Middle East peace with US President George W. Bush.
The attack followed a meeting last night between Sharon and the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas.
Emergency telephone numbers:
Jerusalem Bikur Holim: 1255123
Jerusalem Shaare Zedek: 1255125
Hadassah Mount Scopus: 1255121
Hadassah Ein Karem: 1255122
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on 18 May, 2003