Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV ― The United States has banned staffers from using public transport in Israel.

The U.S. embassy has stopped American employees from sharing taxis in  central Israel.

The embassy said the ban, announced on Dec. 24, 2013, would last two weeks in wake of a bus bombing in a Tel Aviv suburb.

“This restriction is in addition to the longstanding prohibition on the use of public buses and their associated terminals and bus stops in Israel,” the embassy said.

On Dec. 22, a bomb blew up on a bus in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam.

The bomb, attributed to the Iranian-sponsored Islamic Jihad, was discovered and the bus was safely evacuated.

The embassy said the latest measure focused on so-called sheruts, or mini-bus shared taxis.

The statement did not rule out additional insurgency attacks.

“The temporary prohibition on sheruts is in effect for the next two weeks as we assess the security implications of the Dec. 22 bomb attack on a public bus in the Bat Yam neighborhood of Tel Aviv,” the embassy said.

  Bat Yam, Islamic Jihad, public buses, shared taxis, sheruts, U.S. embassy staff in Israel banned from using shared taxis