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12:13PM IL: A terrorist detonated a bomb on board a Dan Company bus in Tel Aviv on Shaul HaMelech Street near Weizman Street. According to police, it has been confirmed the explosion is a terror attack.

MDA, Zaka, and Ichud Hatzalah have declared a multi-casualty incident. There are at least 10 wounded, some listed in serious condition.

UPDATE (AP): The bus exploded about noon on one of the coastal city’s busiest arteries, near the Tel Aviv museum and across from an entrance to Israel’s national defense headquarters.

The bus was charred and blackened, its side windows blown out and its glass scattered on the asphalt. The wounded were evacuated and blood was splattered on the sidewalk.

An Israeli driver who witnessed the explosion told Army Radio the bus was “completely charred inside.” Another witness said there were few passengers on the bus when it exploded. The witnesses spoke to Israeli TV and were not identified.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said authorities were investigating whether the bomb had been planted and left on the bus or whether it was the work of a suicide bomber.

“We strongly believe that this was a terror attack,” he said.

He said that of the 10 wounded, three were moderately to seriously hurt.

In Gaza, the Tel Aviv bombing was praised from mosque loudspeakers, while Hamas’ television interviewed people praising the attack as a return of militants’ trademark tactics.

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NOTE: This story was covered in depth in the LIVE BLOG DAY 8: Operation Pillar Of Defense.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)