Suicide bomber prevented from boarding bus

A suicide bomber blew himself up today at a bus stop east of Tel Aviv, killing himself and wounding five bystanders, one of them seriously.

The bomber had tried to get on the bus through the back door, but aroused the suspicion of passengers and the driver, said David Krause, the deputy police chief of Tel Aviv.

The driver closed the back door and got off the bus, along with two soldiers, to question the suspect.

The driver asked waiting passengers to move back, and as he approached the suspect, the bomber blew himself up, police said.

Two of the soldiers were apparently among the wounded.

A spokesman for the Dan bus company said many of the passengers were soldiers. The blast went off on a major road near Bnei Brak, a suburb of Tel Aviv.