A bomb exploded near a bus stop in a Jewish neighbourhood of Jerusalem today, killing one woman and injuring at least 30 people, police said.
Police described the explosion as a "terrorist attack" - Israel's term for a Palestinian strike. It was the first such bombing in Jerusalem in seven years.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident, which police said was caused by a bomb planted close to Jerusalem's main conference hall and central bus terminal.
At the height of a Palestinian uprising that began in 2000, but which died out in recent years, militants carried out dozens of bombings in Jerusalem.
The blast, which coincided with a surge of violence along the Israel-Gaza border, shook downtown Jerusalem in the afternoon. Dozens of ambulances raced to the scene, where the windows of a bus were shattered and blood stained the pavement.
"[We believe] the device weighed about 1-2 kilos. . . . It exploded in a small suitcase on the sidewalk next to the bus stop," internal security minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch told Israel's Channel 2 television.
A paramedic said he had been meeting colleagues in an office nearby to discuss the dispatch of a medical team to disaster-hit Japan when they heard a loud explosion.
"We didn't wait even for a second, we just got up and ran to the bus station. I saw two women lying on the ground, unconscious and covered in blood," the medic, Motti Bukchi, told Israel's Channel Two television.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed his departure to Russia after the incident. He had been scheduled to hold talks with Russian leaders in Moscow and return tomorrow.
Mr Netanyahu said Israel would act aggressively and responsibly to preserve quiet and security after violence with Palestinians escalated over the past week.
US president Barack Obama condemned the attack.
"There is never any possible justification for terrorism. The United States calls on the groups responsible to end these attacks at once and we underscore that Israel, like all nations, has a right to self-defence," Mr Obama said in a statement.
He also expressed condolences for the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday and urged all sides to do everything they can to prevent violence civilian casualties.
Reuters