At least 10 people were killed and dozens of others wounded in a suicide bombing attack on board a bus in central Jerusalem Thursday morning, police at the scene told Xinhua.  

The explosion, close to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's official residence, went off just before 9 am local time (0700GMT).

The bus was totally torn through. Blood could be seen on the ground, human flesh was shattered into pieces, and broken glass littered the streets.

Police cordoned off the area about 10 minutes after the bombing, and ambulances rushed to the scene to rescue the wounded. An eyewitness told Xinhua that after the blast, she rushed out of her apartment and saw a woman sitting near the apartment door with her head bleeding.

The bomber was in the back of the bus when he detonated the explosives, said Jerusalem police chief Mickey Levy. "It was a very serious attack on a bus packed with passengers," Levy said. "According to what we know at the moment ... we're talking about a suicide bomber."

Ofer, a resident of the area who only gave his first name, said he saw the bus severely damaged and people jumping from the bus. Israel blamed the attack on the Palestinian leadership. "Palestinian terrorists remain committed to striking Israelis in the heart of their own cities," David Baker, an official in Sharon's office told Xinhua Thursday.

"Israel is compelled to continue to take necessary measures to prevent such attacks from occurring -- we have no choice," he added.

Sharon's spokesman, Ra'anan Gissin, said the attack illustrated why Israel is building the separation fence in the West Bank, which it said is necessary to keep suicide bombers out of Israel. "The rest of the world should sit back and let us do what we need to do to defend ourselves," Gissin said.

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Thursday denounced the suicide bombing.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told reporters in a first reaction that "the PNA denounced all the attacks that target Palestinian and Israeli civilians and the PNA is convinced that violence leads only to further violence."

Erekat also referred to the Israel Army carried out on Wednesday against the Gaza city neighborhood of Al-Zaitoun that claimed the lives of nine Palestinians.

"Yesterday there was an Israeli crime that killed nine Palestinians and today 10 Israelis were killed, and the PNA denounces these attacks because peace can not be achieved through killings, destructions or occupation," Erekat added.

No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing. Yet Palestinian radical groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad both vowed to avenge the killings of Palestinians by the Israeli army in the southern Gaza City on Wednesday.

The blast also coincided with a German-brokered prisoner swap between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah guerrilla group. Under the deal, Hezbollah will release Israeli businessman Elhanan Tennenbaum and the bodies of three Israel Defense Forces soldiers kidnapped in October 2000.

In return, Israel will free 400 Palestinian prisoners as well as prisoners from Lebanon, Syria and other Arab states.

One Chinese critically injured in Jerusalem suicide bombing

A Chinese was critically wounded in a suicide bombing on a bus in Jerusalem Thursday morning, Chinese embassy sources said, without providing further details.

(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2004)