Rampage in Jerusalem with bulldozer

[[R-CON]ZZEZ]

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Bulldozer rampage hits Jerusalem

A Palestinian has driven a bulldozer into a bus and several cars in Jerusalem, killing two people before being shot dead, Israeli police say.

Dozens of people were hurt, at least seven critically, in the incident on Jaffa Road, in the city centre.

The BBC's Tim Franks, who witnessed the incident, said a police officer shot the driver dead after a struggle in the vehicle's cab.

There was panic in the streets with hundreds running to flee the scene.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the driver was a terrorist, adding: "We can clearly say this is a terrorist incident."


Map of Jerusalem

In pictures: Bulldozer attack

"Our police special patrol units arrived at the scene. One of our motorbikes came in close contact with the terrorist, shot and killed him," he told reporters.

A spokesman for the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas told the AFP news agency that it was not behind the incident.

The bulldozer, which was heading towards a busy market, upended a bus and ran over several cars near the BBC's bureau in the city.

A security guard from a nearby bank told our correspondent that he had shot the driver, after which the bulldozer came to a stop.

However, the bulldozer suddenly started down the road again.

At one point, our correspondent saw two or three men inside the vehicle's cabin, struggling with the driver and causing the cabin to shake violently.

An Israeli policeman, dressed in black, then climbed onto the bulldozer and shot the driver in the head. The driver's body was then slung onto the road.

Edit: Keep those types of comments to yourself, thank you.

[[R-DEV]Gaz]

sad state of affairs. RIP to those killed, and get well soon to those hurt.

The Bulldozer nut was awarded an OBE for his trouble. One Behind the Ear.

[[R-DEV]bosco]

Driver rams vehicle into Jerusalem bus, killing 3.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080702/...lldozer_attack

By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer 30 minutes ago



JERUSALEM - A Palestinian man plowed an enormous construction vehicle into cars, buses and pedestrians on a busy street Wednesday, killing at least three people and wounding at least 45 before he was shot dead by security officers.


The violence, the first major attack in Jerusalem since March, wreaked havoc in the heart of downtown. Hundreds of people fled in panic through the streets as medics treated the wounded.


Three Palestinian militant groups took responsibility for the attack, but the claims could not be independently verified and Israeli police referred to the attacker as a "terrorist" acting on his own.


The attack took place in front of a building housing the offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets. British Broadcasting Corp. footage captured the huge front loader crushing a vehicle and an off-duty soldier killing the perpetrator by shooting him in the head several times at point-blank range as onlookers screamed.


Israel's national rescue service confirmed three deaths, and the bodies lay motionless on the ground covered in plastic.


Hen Shimon, a 19-year-old soldier, said the whole scene was a "nightmare."
"I just got off the bus and I saw the tractor driving and knocking everything down in his path," she said. "Everything he saw he rammed. He had a gun and started shooting at a police officer."


Esther Valencia, a 52-year-old pedestrian, said she barely escaped the carnage.
"He almost hit me. Someone pushed me out of the way at the last moment. It was a miracle that I got out of there."


Eyal Lang Ben-Hur, 16, was in a bus when the driver yelled out, "Get out of the vehicle! Everyone out!" People fled in a panic, he said, and the bus was hit an instant later.


The attack occurred in an area where Jerusalem is building a new train system. The project has turned many parts of the city into a big construction zone.


Wednesday's attack represented a departure from militants' previous methods, which were mostly suicide bombings and shootings.


During the second Palestinian uprising, which erupted in late 2000, Jerusalem experienced dozens of suicide bombings and other attacks. The city has been largely quiet in the past three years, though sporadic attacks have persisted. In March, a Palestinian gunman entered a Jerusalem seminary and killed eight young students.


The three organizations that took responsibility for the attack included the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, which is affiliated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The other two are the Galilee Freedom Battalion, which is suspected of being affiliated with Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a fringe left-wing militant group.


The Hamas militant group, which runs the Gaza Strip and is currently maintaining a fragile cease-fire with Israel, said it did not carry out the attack but nevertheless praised it.

"We consider it as a natural reaction to the daily aggression and crimes committed against our people in the West Bank and all over the occupied lands," said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.

Despite the Palestinian claims of responsibility, Israeli police chief Dudi Cohen said the attacker appeared to be acting alone.
"It looks as if it was a spontaneous act," he said.


Abbas aide Saeb Erekat condemned the violence.
"We condemn any attacks that target civilians, whether Israelis or Palestinians, and President Abbas has been consistent in his position to condemn any attacks, including the one in west Jerusalem, that target civilians," he said.


Major Israeli retaliation appeared unlikely given the police chief's claim that the attacker acted alone and the Jewish state's desire to maintain the Gaza cease-fire and to support Abbas' security forces in the West Bank.


Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said the man was an Arab from east Jerusalem and had a criminal background. Channel 1 TV, citing police, reported that the attacker, a man in his 30s, worked for a construction contractor. Police chief Cohen said the attacker was the father of two children.


In contrast to West Bank Palestinians, Arab residents of Jerusalem have full freedom to work and travel throughout Israel. Many Jerusalem Arabs work in the construction industry, possibly helping the attacker to easily gain control of a construction vehicle.


About two-thirds of Jerusalem's 700,000 residents are Jews, and the rest are Palestinians who came under Israeli control when Israel captured their part of the city in 1967. Jerusalem's Arabs are not Israeli citizens but hold Israeli ID cards that allow them freedom of movement in the city and throughout Israel.


Israel's national rescue service said at least 45 people were wounded in Wednesday's attack. At one point, a paramedic lowered a screaming baby into an ambulance.


Wounded people sat dazed on the ground amid piles of broken glass and blood stains on the street. The driver of the construction vehicle was slumped motionless over the steering wheel.


A half-dozen cars were flattened and others were overturned by the Caterpillar vehicle. A bus was overturned and another bus was heavily damaged.


A woman sprinkled water over a baby's bloodied face, a rescue worker stroked the hair of a dazed elderly pedestrian and a loved one raised the bleeding leg of a woman sitting outside the overturned bus.


Yosef Spielman, who witnessed the attack, said the construction vehicle picked up a car "like a toy."


"I was shocked. I saw a guy going crazy," he said. "All the people were running. They had no chance."


At one point, witnesses said a female traffic cop shot at the perpetrator, after which he slumped over with his eyes closed. Then he suddenly lifted himself back up and continued his rampage, the witnesses said.
Cassia Pereira, office manager for AP's Jerusalem bureau, watched the attack unfold outside her window.


"I saw him but it was too late and there was nothing to do," she said, with tears in her eyes. "I was in panic I couldn't say a word ... I realized something was not normal, something was wrong."


The mayor of Jerusalem, Uri Lupolianski, said his daughter was on one of the buses rammed by the attacker, but she was not injured.


"To our regret the attackers do not cease coming up with new ways to strike at the heart of the Jewish people here in Jerusalem," Lupolianski said.

[Viper5]

Damn, pretty screwed up week and its only Wednesday.

RIP

[spacemanc]

It makes a change to see the palestinians going on the rampage in bulldozers rather than Israelis. If he really wanted revenge then he should have got his hands on one of the armoured bulldozers that the IDF likes to use on civilians ( or occasionally American peace protesters )

[NYgurkha]

Related maybe?

Killdozer!!

[[R-CON]ZZEZ]

Seems all the English language articles are not accurate.
At first 2 patrolling regular police spotted the bulldozer rampaging, exactly then it knocked over a bus, 1 police female stayed with the bus helping the people inside it get out after she had aimed and shot the Palestinian driver, and the other policeman ran to the bulldozer, clinging to the side of it and when he managed to climb over he started wrestling with the Palestinian, he had his pistol drawn in his other hand, a off duty cadet in Sayeret Egoz managed to jump to the bulldozer aswell and assist the policeman in stopping the rampage - then at some point in the struggle the Palestinian driver lost consciousness and they stayed to guard him from further rampaging.
Few moments later, the Palestinian driver woke up screaming "Allah Wackbar" like they always do and pressed the gas to full, the policeman fell to the bottom of the cabina, the Sayeret Egoz cadet took the policeman's pistol and shot the Palestinian driver a few times in the head - meanwhile a Magav soldier climbed to the bulldozer and shot the Palestinian driver 2 times ensuring that hes dead.
The "car" you see in [R-PUB]bosco's first picture, would you believe that a baby survived that and lived?his mother threw him out of the car a second before the bulldozer crushed them, sadly the mother died.

Originally Posted by spacemanc

If he really wanted revenge

Revenge on what?on the fact that he had a blue identification card[same one as I have], revenge on the fact that he actually was working for the company that he "borrowed" the Caterpiller from?revenge that he could freely move around Israel with no restrictions?revenge on that he could vote in the general elections?
Heh

[M1126 Stryker]

Originally Posted by spacemanc

It makes a change to see the palestinians going on the rampage in bulldozers rather than Israelis. If he really wanted revenge then he should have got his hands on one of the armoured bulldozers that the IDF likes to use on civilians ( or occasionally American peace protesters )

I did not know Al Jazeera was so popular in the UK...

[[R-DEV]Masaq]

The Guardian is probably more popular:

Israeli army bulldozer crushes US peace protester in Gaza Strip | World news | The Guardian

[spacemanc]

Originally Posted by M1126 Stryker

I did not know Al Jazeera was so popular in the UK...

The Israeli bulldozing fetish is reported around the world by the free press - doesnt surprise that youve not heard about it in the US though.


Post warned for tone/attitude towards others. Stay civil please. Also, sources are always good. I shouldn't have to go looking for news pieces to post because you can't be bothered to back up your claims. -M