Jerusalem bus bomb victim was British

Israeli police at the scene of the bomb attack at Jerusalem's main bus station, which killed a 60-year-old British woman. Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features The woman killed when a suitcase bomb exploded in Jerusalem on Wednesday was British, the Foreign Office has confirmed. The bombing, the first in the city for seven years, left the 60-year-old dead and injured dozens of others. "We can confirm the death of a British national," said a Foreign Office spokeswoman, adding that the woman's family had been informed. The 1-2kg suitcase bomb detonated close to the main bus station and government ministries. Most of the blast was absorbed by commuters waiting at a bus stop, leaving three people seriously hurt and about three dozen with minor injuries. The explosion also broke windows in two buses that were operating nearby. Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has vowed to act "aggressively, responsibly and wisely" in response to the bombing, which was also condemned by the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad. Barack Obama criticised the bombing and said "Israel, like all nations, has a right to self-defence". However, the US president expressed "deepest condolences" to the families of Palestinians killed in recent Israeli air strikes in Gaza. In the past week a barrage of missiles has been fired into Israel from Gaza, followed by retaliatory air strikes and tank shelling by the Israeli military. At least 10 Palestinians have been killed.