MIDDLE EAST: At least one Israeli killed and several others wounded in suspected truck attack in centre of Tel Aviv

Record ID: 352709

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: At least one Israeli killed and several others wounded in suspected truck attack in centre of Tel Aviv
  • Date: 16th May 2011
  • Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (MAY 15, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ISRAELI POLICE CORDONING AREA IN WHICH A TRUCK HIT PASSING CARS, KILLING AT LEAST ONE PERSON VARIOUS OF DAMAGED CAR AT SITE CLOSE OF COLLAPSED LIGHTING POLL VARIOUS OF ISRAELI SECURITY AND RESCUE TEAMS AT SITE MORE OF DAMAGED CARS VARIOUS OF ISRAELI SECURITY AND RESCUE TEAMS INSPECTING DAMAGED CAR MORE OF SITE DA
  • Embargoed: 31st May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jerusalem, Israel
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA52WF3AZPDE44VD5WT8AX3X9IY
  • Story Text: A truck crashed into vehicles and pedestrians in Tel Aviv on Sunday (May 15), killing one person and injuring at least seven others on an annual day of Palestinian protests.
    Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld identified the driver as a resident of the Arab village of Kafr Qassem in central Israel and said he had been apprehended.
    "This morning in the city of Tel Aviv there was a vehicle, a suspicious vehicle, that struck a bus as well as a number of cars. We have arrested a 22-year-old, Israeli Arab from one of the areas in the central part of Israel. From what we know and what the investigation is being carried out at the moment, we're looking at a strong possibility that this was in fact an attack," Rosenfeld told Reuters in Jerusalem.
    Israeli security forces had been on alert for violence on Sunday, the day Palestinians mark the "nakba", or catastrophe, of Israel's founding in a 1948 war, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced to leave their homes.
    "Once again heightened security has been made, not just in Jerusalem as well as in the north, for today -- Yom Hanakba the day of rage -- however also in other districts in order to prevent any other incidents from taking place," Rosenfeld added.
    Witnesses said the truck driver went on a rampage, slamming into cars, a bus and pedestrians along a two-km (1-mile) stretch of road, at the start of the Israeli work week in Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial hub.
    Israeli emergency services aid one person was pronounced dead at the scene and at least seven people were injured.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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