Eight killed in suicide attack in Israel, Islamic Jihad claims responsibility

A car bomb exploded next to a bus on a road in northern Israel on Monday, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 30 in a blast that sent a black mushroom cloud billowing into the sky. Militant Palestinian Islamist group, the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.

Witnesses said the explosion – which cast a shadow over a US Peace mission due to begin later this week – turned the bus travelling between the cities of Hadera and Afula into an inferno.

‘‘It was like an earthquake. The whole bus is burned and nothing is left of it,’’ Meital Ziskin, a witness, said.