|
Occupied Jerusalem: A Palestinian rammed a bulldozer into an Israeli commuter bus, cars and pedestrians on one of Jerusalem's busiest streets on Wednesday, killing three people and wounding dozens, emergency services said.
Police said the driver of the bulldozer was shot dead by police officers and a soldier who climbed onto the vehicle.
It was the first Arab attack in Jewish west Jerusalem since a gunman killed eight students in a religious school in March.
"A bulldozer driven by an Arab went on a rampage on Jaffa Road, hitting pedestrians, buses and cars," police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.
"It was definitely a terrorist attack," cabinet minister Roni Bar-On said.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad described the attack as a "natural" response by Palestinians to Israeli aggression but, nearly two weeks into a truce in the Gaza Strip, neither Islamist group laid claim to organising the Jerusalem violence.
At least three people were killed by the bulldozer and more than 40 people injured. It identified the driver as a Palestinian resident of Arab East Jerusalem.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came nearly two weeks into a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas Islamist group in the Gaza Strip.
Emergency vehicles rushed to Jaffa Road after the mid-day attack, where a commuter bus, its side slashed by the bulldozer, stood on its side.
"I saw the bulldozer hurtling towards my car and I immediately jumped out," one motorist told Israel Radio.
The scene in the aftermath of the attack was reminiscent of numerous suicide bombings that destroyed buses on Jaffa Road during a Palestinian uprising that began in 2000.
At least three other vehicles appeared to sustain damage, including a van whose entire front section was crushed.
|