According to an official from Magen David Adom (Israeli Emergency Medical Service), five (5) people are known dead and at least another ninety-two (92) were wounded as the result of the blast. A cab driver, at the scene, said that he actually saw people being blown through the windows of the bus as the bomb exploded. More than twenty of the injured are believed to be in critical condition at Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital, Hadassah Ein Karem (Trauma Center), or Shaare Tzedek Medical Center, where most of the victims were transported. Several people were said to be undergoing surgery as the result of blast injuries, including head, chest, and extremity wounds. Many were wounded by flying shrapnel, and others by concussion injuries.
At least eighteen ambulances were originally sent to the scene and more were requested when the magnitude of the incident was understood. According to one report at least two soldiers and four policemen were injured/killed in the blast. Numerous security forces were sent to the scene to attempt to control crowds that began to immediately gather. Israeli EMS authorities have also requested emergency blood donations, to assist in the disaster.
An unnamed police official says that it was extremely lucky that the bomb exploded when it did, because the blast occurred just outside of the Rene Kassem High School, at the Kassem Junction on Eshkol Boulevard. Fortunately, school was not in session at the time of the detonation. The officer said that had the school been in session, that hundreds more would have been wounded or killed.
Shortly after the blast, several Israeli officials began to arrive at the scene to survey the damage and attempt to calm angry crowds that had begun to protest the deaths of their countrymen and women. According to a highly placed emergency service source, Police Minister (Labor) Moshe Shachal was forced from the scene by "angry mobs" who were shouting "Traitor" and "Death to Rabin" and attempting to approach the minister. Police reportedly were having great difficulty with crowd control, and several arrests were made. Police then sealed all exits from Jerusalem and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reportedly set up roadblocks to the North of the city, in the direction of largely Arab Ramallah, Shufat, and Beit Hannah.
In response to the blast, Prime Minister Rabin has "indefinitely canceled" autonomy talks with PLO officials and sealed the borders with it's Arab neighbors. Both Conservative anti-government protesters and Moslem organizations are reportedly calling for the ouster of Police Minister Moshe Shachal for his failure to provide security on the nation's buses. A large number of border police are reportedly assembling near the blast site and at other major intersections, where the militant "Zu Artzeinu" (This is our Land) has called for late afternoon demonstrations and a stoppage of traffic. Local emergency officials say that "it looks like it's going to be a very difficult day" in the Israeli capital.