"I looked at the car, and I saw that it was parked in a strange way," Roash told police just hours after his actions averted tragedy.

Roash, who has worked for the municipality for six years, refused to be called a hero, stating instead that he was a "messenger of the Lord."

"The Lord did not just send me to the spot today, there was a certain reason behind it," he said.

The car, which Roash said was parked in an unusual, perpendicular manner, immediately aroused his suspicion.

As Roash punched the license plate into his computer, his screen flashed that it was a stolen car.

"I understood that all my suspicions were correct, and I knew that something was very wrong," he said.

Roash immediately started screaming to everyone to vacate the area and asked a passerby to call the police.

Police, who cordoned off the area, successfully neutralized the bomb and hours later detonated it in a controlled explosion. All evening a police helicopter hovered in the air, and police on horseback fruitlessly urged the curious to go back to their homes.

It was the third such attack in the area in as many months, and the second bombing thwarted by an alert passer-by.

"It is frightening, but you see how the Almighty helps out if you pray and do the right things" said Solomon Fried, 21, a yeshiva student.