Israel police claim to foil tractor attack in Jerusalem, Palestinian driver shot

Published March 5th, 2009 - 11:45 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

A Palestinian tractor driver in Jerusalem overturned into an Israeli police car and rammed into a bus, before he was shot by police and a taxi driver at the scene. The incident took place a little after 1pm near a popular shopping mall in southern Jerusalem.

An eyewitness told Israel Radio that the driver had used the tractor's front loader to flip the police car. The two officers inside were lightly injured, Israel Police said.

Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said that the driver had been seriously wounded, but was not dead. He said policemen fired at the driver after it overturned the police car and hit the bus, which had no passengers at the time.

A witness saw the driver of the tractor being taken away by an ambulance.

This is the third time that a construction vehicle has been used to carry out an attack in the capital. In July 2008, a Palestinian went on the rampage in a bulldozer on Jaffa Street, killing three people and wounding dozens more. Two weeks later, a resident of East Jerusalem carried out a similar attack, wounding at least 24 people. Both were shot dead at the scene.

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