Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - "It hurt my heart," said a 13-year-old boy who missed the number 20 Egged bus in Jerusalem on Thursday - the same bus that a terrorist blew up minutes later, killing at least 11 people.
Another 47 people were wounded, many of them schoolchildren and commuters, in the latest suicide bomb attack to hit Jerusalem. Today's attack happened in the Kiryat Menachem neighborhood during the morning rush hour.
In Israel, most older children and teens do not attend neighborhood schools and therefore take city buses to school.
Hodaya Asraf, 13, and Marina Bazarsky, 46, were the first of the dead to be identified.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack but Israel placed the blame on Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Police said the bomber boarded the bus one or two stops before the blast, made his way into the center of the bus and detonated the medium-sized bomb belt he was wearing.
"A rush hour bus... a suicide bomber, evidently or apparently... from Bethlehem, enters the bus a number of stops beforehand," said police spokesman Gil Kleiman.
"While that bus is traveling, a crowded bus, [he] works his way towards the middle of the bus and explodes in the middle of the bus as the bus pulls over to pick up other people," Kleiman said.
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