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Jerusalem • A bomb exploded near Jerusalem's central bus station Wednesday, killing a woman and wounding dozens of others, Israeli medics and police said.
Fatal bombings of civilian targets, once common in Jerusalem, haven't happened in the city in several years. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Minister of Internal Security Yitzhak Aharonvich said at the scene that a bomb weighing between 2 and 4.5 pounds and packed with metal balls was left in a bag at a bus stop near the central station.
Witness said the explosives detonated shortly after 3 p.m. local time.
The explosion was large enough to be heard across town. Aharonvich said Israel had no advance intelligence about a possible attack.
Israeli television stations showed footage of shattered windows on a bus that was passing by and a bloodied sweat shirt on the ground at the bus stop.
Ambulances converged on the area, taking 39 injured people to hospitals.
A spokesman for the Israeli ambulance authority said one of the injured, a woman who was approximately 60 years old, died of her wounds.