2nd Ld Writethru: 21 injured in Jerusalem bus blast, police confirms as terror attack

At least 21 people were injured in a bus blast in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon, police said, confirming it was a terror attack.

Investigators at the scene concluded that a small explosive device went off at the back of a bus in southern Jerusalem on Monday, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement. The bus caught fire, which spread to a nearby bus and a vehicle.

Twenty one people were injured in the attack, two of whom were reported to be in serious conditions, six others were moderately injured while the rest were lightly injured, according to the Israeli emergency services. They were evacuated to the Shaarei Tzedek and Hadassah Ein Kerem hospitals.

Samri said police forces are still working at the scene to discover further details about the attack and its circumstances, and large forces of police were deployed in Jerusalem and its environs.

While police knows the blast is the result of an explosive device, they do not know who carried out the attack and how it was carried out exactly, Jerusalem Police Chief Yoram Halevi said in a briefing to reporters.

"When a bomb explodes on a bus, it is a terror attack," Halevi told reporters at the scene of the attack, in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Talpiyot.

"We are at the stage of the investigation," Levi told reporters, adding that they did not receive any pinpointed alert on Monday's attack, and the police is ready for further escalation in the city.

Among those injured, one is said to be in critical condition. According to Dr. Ofer Marine from the Shaarei Tzedek hospital, the identity of the critically injured person is still unknown.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the terror attack on Monday evening by saying Israel will "settle the score" with those behind the attack.

"We will track down those who made the explosive device, we will reach the people who sent them and those who stood behind them," Netanyahu said.

At first, the police reported that the blast was a militant attack, but then it recanted and said that all directions were being examined.

Media outlets reported it was possible the blast was the result of a technical problem, but as time went by, the assumption strengthened that the blast is the result of an explosive device.

This is the first time such an attack takes place amid an ongoing wave of violence that started in October, in which 28 Israelis were killed in stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks, and 200 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli security forces during protests and after trying to carry out attacks against Israelis.

No one so far has claimed the attack, which came a week after Hamas urged its members in the West Bank to renew bombing strikes against the Israelis.

The last time when a Israeli bus exploded was in 2012 in Tel Aviv, during Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

While Israeli leaders blame the Palestinians for incitement to violence amid the ongoing wave of unrest, the Palestinians say it is the result of the 49 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, where they wish to establish a state. Endit