An explosion went off in a car near a bus in Tel Aviv on Thursday in what police said was a criminally motivated assassination attempt. Four people were slightly injured. In a country with a long history of bus bombings by Palestinian militants, such explosions immediately cause jitters and assumptions about terrorism. And the explosion went off close to the site of a bus bombing in November.

Israeli media offered various reports of how the blast occurred. According to witnesses, a motorcyclist approached the car on the corner Menachem Begin Road and Shaul Hamelech Avenue and placed a bomb on it. The device detonated shortly thereafter, causing the car to go up in flames.

The witnesses added that they saw Nissim Alperon, a criminal, fleeing the scene. Alperon, 58, who is known as a crime boss, has survived eight previous attempts on his life. It appears he has managed to endure yet another near death experience.

The explosion went off on a crosswalk not far from the Hakirya IDF base. The windows of a bus that was traveling nearby shattered from the force of the blast. The scene was closed to traffic, causing congestion in the area.

A police helicopter has been scrambled in the manhunt for the assailant. Shortly after, police arrested two suspects who were riding on motorbikes near Geha Interchange on suspicion that they were involved in the explosion. It is not clear that they are involved, though, and police are seeking two individuals whom they said were involved in the explosion. Witnesses also said they had seen Alperon himself fleeing the scene, and police are searching for him as well.

Police said that although they were pretty sure that the attack was an underworld “rubout” attempt, they could not say who or which criminal group was behind the attack. The most likely candidate is the family of Zeev Rosenshtein, another top figure in Israel's underworld and a rival for the Alperon family's alleged interests in gambling, protection, and other vices, but police said that Alperon had many disputes with many different interests. But without an in-depth investigation with concrete evidence, it would be impossible to confirm that fact.