JERUSALEM – An Israeli border policeman was killed and nine other people wounded Wednesday when a Palestinian ran down two groups of pedestrians in Jerusalem following weeks of tensions in the city.
It was the second such deadly car attack by a Palestinian in two weeks and came after a morning of violent clashes at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound involving police and stone-throwers.
Police described the incident, which took place on the seam line between west Jerusalem and the city’s annexed Arab east, as a “hit and run terror attack.”
The driver, whom police identified as a Palestinian from Shuafat refugee camp in east Jerusalem, hit two groups of pedestrians before getting out of the vehicle and attacking passers-by with an iron bar.
Police then shot him dead.
The attack mirrored an incident on October 23 when a Palestinian rammed his car into a group of pedestrians, killing a young woman and a baby. That incident took place on the same road, just a few hundred metres (yards) further north.
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the driver had first struck a group of policemen who were crossing the road near border police headquarters, before continuing south and hitting a group of pedestrians waiting at the Shimon HaTsadik light rail station.
After the car came to a halt, the driver, who had sustained injuries during his rampage, “got out of the vehicle and started to hit people with an iron bar,” she said.
He was shot dead by police out on patrol in the area.
Emergency services spokesman Zaki Heller said two of the wounded were in very serious condition.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat vowed to keep up the pressure on anyone seeking to terrorise the city through attacks or rioting.
He was referring to persistent unrest which has gripped the city’s east for the past four months.
“This is a hard day for Jerusalem,” he said in a statement, urging the government to act with “a firm hand to win the war against terror and rioting”.
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