Jerusalem attack: Four dead after lorry driver rams soldiers
A driver has killed four people in Jerusalem by ramming a lorry into a group of Israeli soldiers, in what police say was a terrorist attack.
Medics at the scene said three women and one man, all in their twenties, were killed and at least 13 more were wounded.
“It is a terrorist attack, a ramming attack,” police spokeswoman Luba Samri told Israeli radio.
She said the attacker was shot dead by soldiers from the group.
Images from the scene showed a lorry with bullet holes riddled across the windscreen.
A bus driver who witnessed the incident told Israeli radio that the driver ploughed into the group before reversing over victims.
Israel’s police chief Roni Alsheich told reporters the attacker was from an Arab neighbourhood in east Jerusalem.
The attack took place on the popular Armon Hanatziv promenade overlooking the walled Old City of Jerusalem.
Before this latest incident, 35 Israelis had been killed in a wave of knife, gun and car-ramming attacks by Palestinians or Israeli Arabs since October 2015.
More than 200 Palestinians – mostly attackers, Israel says – have also been killed in that period.
Israel says Palestinian incitement has fuelled the attacks. The Palestinian leadership has blamed frustration rooted in decades of Israeli occupation.
The BBC’s Yolande Knell in Jerusalem says the number of attacks had begun to subside in recent months, but Sunday’s incident is one of the most serious there has been.
Courtesy : BBC
Image captionThe attack took place on a popular promenade
Image captionPolice said the driver veered off the road into a group of soldiers