Middle East: The killer set out to look like his victims. It was not the first time a suicide-bomber has dressed as an Orthodox Jew - the bulky, loose clothing favoured by religious men and women is good for shielding explosives - but that did not alert anyone, writes Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
No one noticed as he mingled among people at the Jewish Mahane Yehuda market, and then boarded the No 14 bus headed along Jerusalem's central Jaffa Street, crowded with shoppers.
Perhaps their suspicions were raised as the killer pushed his way into the rush-hour crush in the centre of the bus, but by then it was too late.
As the bus drew up at the next stop, the man blew himself to bits and killed 16 passengers.
Hagid Stein had just stepped off the bus when the bomb detonated. "I didn't know where to run," she said, sitting on a step, trembling and crying.
"By the time you feel the blast it's all over but you feel you just have to get away because all you can hear is people screaming. I can't believe I escaped." The explosion ripped apart the front of the bus, shattered the windows and lifted the roof. Body parts were thrown hundreds of feet. Tufts of hair were scattered among shreds of flesh.
The consensus was that it was a big bomb. "The terrorist didn't get a chance to sit down," Jerusalem's police chief, Mickey Levy, said. "We are talking about a big explosive device that was set off by a suicide-bomber."
The explosion was heard across the city. Many residents would have recognised the deep thud in an instant. But if they had any doubts, those were swept away within minutes by the sirens converging from hospitals across Jerusalem.
The paramedics pushed past the dead and walking wounded to save the most seriously injured, struggling with torn limbs or slipping deep into shock. Every few minutes the ambulance service upped the death toll. First it was four. Then it leapt to 10, before running swiftly to 15.
Finally, two hours after the blast, the final count was 16. More than 100 people were injured, some critically, some by shards of flying glass as they sat in offices.
The men assigned to collect every shred of skin for burial in accordance with Jewish religious law grew ever more furious with the Orthodox young men in black hats and coats who seemed to shrug aside their own beliefs as they trampled over the area where glass and flesh were scattered, in an attempt to get a better look at the latest of many atrocities on Jaffa Street.
A small group of demonstrators waved handwritten protests demanding Ariel Sharon apologise personally to the families of the victims and blaming his embracing of the US-led "road map" to peace for the carnage.
"It is you \ who are forcing us to compromise with terror who are responsible for this," shouted an aggressive young man with an American accent, who would give his name only as Yacob.
"There is only one answer to this. Kill all the f...ing Arabs, drive them into the sea. But you want us to live with them when all they want to do is kill us." A police officer told him to shut up, but he kept shouting.
Jaffa Street and neighbouring Ben Yehuda shopping precinct have been a favoured target of suicide bombers for two years. But the shops and cafes had filled up in recent months - with Israelis, if not tourists - as the terror attacks eased off.
Yesterday fear swept over the area again. Drinkers retreated from the outside tables to the relative safety of bar stools, putting their faith in statistics and the security guards on the door.
"You can hide at home," said Uri Stein, stopping off for a beer on his way home from work.
"But then they have won because we are afraid to live. So we go out. But maybe we don't get the bus and maybe we don't sit in the street. We are brave but cautious." - (Guardian Service)