11 DEAD, 50 WOUNDED IN JERUSALEM BUS TERROR MASSACRE
Islamic Terrorism Targets School Children

Islamic terrorism in Israel has claimed over 800 lives.

Jerusalem----November 21.....It was an another beautiful, cool and sun-drenched morning in Jerusalem as Israeli schoolchildren kissed their mothers goodbye as they boarded public bus number 20. As the green bus made its way winding down from Jerusalem's southern neighborhoods to downtown, the children joked, smiled and contemplated their classes in the Kiryat Menachem school. They never made it to their classes. Their smiles turned to bloody tears as a Palestinian suicide terror bomber boarded the bus and detonated a lethal and powerful charge containing twisted nails, bolts and nuts.

In a matter of moments the children were among the 11 dead and 50 wounded, with many now in fighting for life in critical condition. Killed in the terror attack were an 8-year-old, three teenagers and seven adults.

The terorist got on bus No. 20 two or three stops before blowing himself up at 7:10 a.m. local time. The blast occurred just before the bus was set to make its last stop in Kiryat Menachem on Mexico Street, and head to the center of town.
Security sources said the medium-sized explosives belt was packed with nuts and bolts to maximize the damage, and that it was detonated in the center of the bus. Media reports said police were hunting for a car that apparently dropped the bomber off in Kiryat Menachem, minutes before the attack.

A friend of 13-year-old Israeli girl Hodaya Asraf, who was murdered in a Palestinian terror
suicide bomb attack, weeps beside a picture of her in a Jerusalem school. Photo: Reuters

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Israeli officials said the terrorist came from Bethlehem, which raised the possibility Israel might retake the West Bank town from which it withdrew in August. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon planned to convene his security cabinet for an emergency meeting later Thursday.

Earlier Thursday two would-be suicide bombers were captured by the IDF in the Bethlehem area.

Maor Kimche, 15, said he had just boarded the bus when the blast went off. "Suddenly, it was black and smoky. There were people on the floor. Everything was bloody. There was glass everywhere and body parts," Kimche said.

The 10th grader who had been en route to school in downtown Jerusalem jumped out of a bus window and was scooped up by a tax driver who took him to nearby Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem's Ein Karem. Kimche was lightly injured in the left leg.

The boy's father, Doron, had driven close behind the bus and saw the blast but was unaware that his son was on board. He helped get the wounded off the bus before a friend told him his son was at the hospital.

The boy was one of the first to arrive at Hadassah Hospital, where doctors had no prior notification before ambulances, their sirens blaring, drove up with wounded, said spokeswoman Barbara Sofer.

Doctors here have become well-versed in treating bombing victims. The blasts cause such severe trauma injuries because, besides nails and metal packed into the explosives, a concussion or shock wave follows that can shatter ear drums, push air out of the lungs and crush the body's organs, Sofer said.

The youngster said the bus was crowded with high school students, soldiers and elderly passengers. He said he'd ride the bus again once he was well. "How else will I get to school?" he asked. The blast blew out the bus windows. A torso that had fallen over the side of the bus was covered with a white-and-blue checkered blanket.

Sandwiches and schoolbooks lay scattered in the street.

As rescue workers removed the dead from the bus, the bodies were placed in black plastic bags that were numbered and laid out in a row along a sidewalk.

Eleven people were killed and at least 50 wounded, eight of them very seriously, officials said.

Mayor Ehud Olmert toured the scene and told reporters that Israel's soldiers and police were working already doing everything possible to thwart bombings.

"Every time I come to such a site, I can't escape the thought that a living person entered the bus, and he saw the young kid of 6, 7 years old sitting, and he blows him apart," Olmert said, from about two meters from the scene of the attack. "This is something that you have to see to understand how terrible it is." "The atmosphere is one of great sadness," he added.

"The state of Israel cannot and will not put a police officer on every corner or on every bus or near every traffic light," Olmert said.

In Bethlehem, the bomber was tentatively identified as Nael Azmi Abu Hilail, 23, a supporter of Islamic Jihad, though there was no claim of responsibility by the group. Abu Hilail's family said he left home Wednesday and hadn't returned.

Ella Sharshevsky, 44, and her son Michael Sharshevsky, 16 Kira Perlman, 67, and her grandson Ilan Perlman, 8 Marina Bazarski, 46 Hodaya Asaraf, 13 Varga Mirse, 25 Sima Novak, 56 Yafit Revivo, 13 Dikla Zino, 20 Hadassah Helena Ben David, 32