The force of the explosion transformed the bus interior into a charred skeleton and the front windshield into a spider web of cracked glass. On a blustery cold winter day the street was littered with bloodied hats, gloves and scarves.

City Councilman Nir Barkat was waiting for the red light in the intersection opposite the bus: "I saw the bus blow up with my own eyes."

Barkat, whose hands and clothes were smeared with dried blood, said he ran to the bus and, "We started taking the victims out, one by one. I had to step on pieces of body parts to get to a little girl in a seat."