Israel says attack on Jerusalem bus was Hamas suicide bombing

Flames rise at the scene where an explosion tore through a bus in Jerusalem on Monday setting a second bus on fire, in what an Israeli official said was a bombing, April 18, 2016. REUTERS/Noam Revkin Fenton

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said on Thursday that an attack on a Jerusalem bus this week that wounded 15 people was a suicide bombing, the first such attack in years.

Suicide bombings on Israeli buses were a hallmark of the Palestinian revolt of 2000-2005 but have been rare since. A spate of stabbings, car-rammings and gun attacks by Palestinian militants since October have put Israelis on the alert for an escalation.