Bomb blast in Jerusalem bus station

British woman killed in Jerusalem bus station bomb

Jerusalem News Updates! A British woman was the only victim killed in a bomb blast near a Jerusalem bus station yesterday.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: “We can confirm a British National was killed in the bus bomb in Jerusalem on 23 March. We are providing consular assistance."

A woman was killed and more than 30 people wounded when a bomb ripped through a bus in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

The Briton died in an ambulance on her way to hospital. It is not clear whether the woman was a tourist or lived in Israel. The bomb was the first in more than six years.

Two kilos of explosives were positioned close to the central bus station in Jerusalem, according to reports. The bomb is thought to have been packed with metal causing shrapnel injuries to people as they queued for buses.

Two buses had stopped to pick up passengers at the time of the explosion. The 174 bus was particularly badly hit.

It came hours after militants vowed revenge for two deadly Israeli raids on Gaza.

The bombing also came several hours after two Grad rockets fired by Gaza militants hit the southern city of Beersheva.

Following the attack, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said that Israel would act "aggressively, responsibly and wisely" in wake of a recent upsurge in violence.

Israeli jets staged three air strikes over Gaza overnight but there were no casualties, Palestinian sources said early this morning.

Two of the raids targeted the city of Gaza while another was aimed at a tunnel near the Egyptian frontier at Rafah, they said.

An Israeli defence spokeswoman confirmed the sorties, saying: "The air force targeted two tunnels at the south of the Gaza Strip and a terrorist target in Gaza."

"These raids followed 25 rocket hits, including four Grads, on Israel since Saturday."

1,500-year-old church found in Israel

1,500-year-old street uncovered in Jerusalem's Old City.

Israeli archaeologists presented a newly uncovered 1,500-year-old church in the Judean hills on Wednesday, including an unusually well-preserved mosaic floor with images of lions, foxes, fish and peacocks.

The Byzantine church located southwest of Jerusalem, excavated over the last two months, will be visible only for another week before archaeologists cover it again with soil for its own protection.

The small basilica with an exquisitely decorated floor was active between the fifth and seventh centuries A.D., said the dig's leader, Amir Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority. He said the floor was "one of the most beautiful mosaics to be uncovered in Israel in recent years."

"It is unique in its craftsmanship and level of preservation," he said.

Archaeologists began digging at the site, known as Hirbet Madras, in December. The Antiquities Authority discovered several months earlier that antiquities thieves had begun plundering the ruins, which sit on an uninhabited hill not far from an Israeli farming community.



Though an initial survey suggested the building was a synagogue, the excavation revealed stones carved with crosses, identifying it as a church. The building had been built atop another structure around 500 years older, dating to Roman times, when scholars believe the settlement was inhabited by Jews.

Hewn into the rock underneath that structure is a network of tunnels that archaeologists believe were used by Jewish rebels fighting Roman armies in the second century A.D.




Stone steps lead down from the floor of church to a small burial cave, which scholars suggest might have been venerated as the burial place of the Old Testament prophet Zecharia.

Ganor said the church would remain covered until funding was obtained to open it as a tourist site.

Israel boasts an exceptionally high concentration of archaeological sites, including Crusader, Islamic, Byzantine, Roman, ancient Jewish and prehistoric ruins.

Dave Lindahl Scam