But Israeli experts tend to give credence to another claim issued in the name of the smaller fundamentalist group, Islamic Jihad: they recall a similar multiple explosion at a bus stop for soldiers in 1995 which was Islamic Jihad's doing.

ECONOMIST: Carnage in Jerusalem

"The whole bus went up in flames, " she said, adding that the explosion took place near the front of the bus.

BBC: Bulgaria blast: 'Suicide bomber' killed Israelis

"It was strange, of all the places the explosion could have happened on the bus, it actually happened outside the British Medical Association, " he says.

BBC: Why 7/7 could have been even worse

"I was on the bus and we had just sat down when after a few seconds we heard a really loud explosion, " Gal Malka told Israel's army radio.

BBC: Bulgaria blast: 'Suicide bomber' killed Israelis