Bat Yam - Bomb Goes off on Bus

A policeman was lightly hurt in an explosion Sunday on a bus in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv, as sappers were working to defuse a suspected bomb.

The police officer was evacuated to the Edith Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, following the explosion on bus no. 240 as it made its way from Bat Yam to Bnei Brak. The bus had stopped at the junction of Mivtza Sinai and Katznelson streets and all the passengers had disembarked when the blast took place.

Police believe that the attack had a nationalistic motive.

    

A spokesperson for bus company Dan, Eitan Fiksman, said one of the 12 passengers on the bus alerted the driver that there was a suspicious object on the bus.

"The passenger opened the knapsack and saw wires. The driver stopped, called the police and told the passengers to get off."

The driver, Michael Yoger, told Ynet that he quickly realized that the large, black knapsack could contain a bomb.

"A woman on the bus told me that there was a knapsack on the bus. I asked her if it belonged to anybody, but I understood that it didn't so I told everyone to get off the bus at the next stop. After a few minutes the bus exploded."

Fiksman said a member of the bomb squad performed a controlled detonation of the object.