Israel tests armoured buses

2008-03-05 23:02

Jerusalem - Drawing on its painful experience, Jerusalem has become a testing ground for four armoured buses designed to protect passengers from suicide bombers, officials said on Wednesday.

The new buses are equipped with bomb-resistant windows and doors, a turnstile that allows the driver to inspect the passengers as they get on the bus and a back door designed for exit only.

The buses also have crowd control equipment for emergencies, said Ronit Eckstein, a spokesperson for the Israel Military Industries, which developed the buses.

Between 2001 and 2004, 77 passengers were killed in six bombings aboard Jerusalem buses, carried out by Palestinian attackers who detonated explosives they were carrying after boarding the buses.

The bloodiest attack was on August 19, 2003, when 23 people were killed. Suicide bombers blew up a total of 21 buses in Israel during that period, killing 208. The last bus bombing was in August 2004.

A spokesperson for the Transport Ministry, Ora Saloman said four trial buses were on the roads in Jerusalem, and if successful, they would be offered for export.

- AP