The bomber in the Jerusalem blast struck at a busy intersection, always crowded with hitchhikers and people waiting for buses.

He was seen being dropped off by a car and dashed toward the concrete bus stop shelter, which is also used as a hitchhiking post.

The intersection has been targeted by assailants in the past, and was heavily guarded.

Everything was soaked in his blood

Eyewitness Ana Masilov

"The police chased him to try to stop him, and when he got to the [bus stop], he blew up a large device," said Jerusalem police chief Mickey Levy.

"I saw people go up in the air, and everything turned black, with lots of smoke," said Geula Mizrahi, who was in a car near the bus stop.

The blast tore through the concrete shelter, leaving the street littered with body parts and shattered glass.

"I saw the bomber torn to shreds and all my clothes were covered with the bomber's blood, my dress and legs and hands," Ana Masilov, who was lightly hurt in the attack, told Israeli television.

"Everything was soaked in his blood."

She was holding a bag at the time of the attack: "They told me the bag saved my life because there was nothing left of it."

More memorials

A baby carriage was turned upside down and was later covered with black plastic by rescue workers.

There have been conflicting reports over whether the baby was among those killed.

Rescue workers could be seen standing on ladders picking pieces of flesh from the roof of the bus shelter where he blew himself up.

Later, a bulldozer drove up to the damaged bus stop and finished dismantling it, loudly tearing it apart.

One of the wounded had been pointing out to a friend a memorial plaque which commemorated the death of two women in an attack on the same bus stop several years ago when the bomber struck.

"I told her that pretty soon we're going to have these memorial markers all over Jerusalem," the woman said.