(Jerusalem) Two explosions occurred in Jerusalem during the morning rush hour on Wednesday, killing a Canadian teenager and injuring at least 18 people.
Police said the attacks were likely carried out by Palestinians.
The first explosion occurred near a usually crowded bus stop on the outskirts of town. The second came about half an hour later in Ramot, in the north of the city.
The victim has been identified as 15-year-old Aryeh Shechopek, who was heading to a Jewish seminary when the explosion took place. The teenager was a Canadian citizen, according to Canada’s ambassador to Israel, Lisa Stadelbauer.
In a message sent on the embassy’s twitter account, Lisa Stadelbauer condemned the attack as reprehensible and offered her condolences to the family and friends of the young victim.
Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have been rising for months, amid overnight Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank sparked by a series of deadly attacks on Israelis that killed 19 people in the spring. There has been an upsurge in recent weeks of Palestinian attacks.
Hours before Wednesday’s blasts, Palestinian militants stormed a hospital in the West Bank and took an Israeli citizen there seeking treatment after a car accident, according to the young man’s father.