ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/UPDATE Israel's internal security minister visits scene of car attack

Record ID: 399263

  • Title: ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/UPDATE Israel's internal security minister visits scene of car attack
  • Date: 6th March 2015
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (MARCH 6, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ISRAELI INTERNAL SECURITY MINISTER, YITZHAK AHARONOVICH, ARRIVING AT SCENE (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) ISRAELI INTERNAL SECURITY MINISTER, YITZHAK AHARONOVICH, SAYING: "Women border police officers were run over and a civilian. They were taken to the hospital. This is a difficult attack. The condition of those injured is moderate." A
  • Embargoed: 21st March 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jerusalem
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA113X2ND2XSB4CPU4SWU6PCPEG
  • Story Text: A Palestinian motorist rammed his vehicle into a group of pedestrians standing near a Jerusalem tram stop on Friday (March 6), injuring at least five people, Israeli police said.
    Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich visited the scene and gave a briefing to the media.
    "Women border police officers were run over, and a civilian. They were taken to the hospital. This is a difficult attack. The condition of those injured is moderate," Aharonovich said.
    "The terrorist's identity is still not certain. There are assessments he is from east Jerusalem, the question is from where. Security services and police are checking into it. But it's clear it was an attack, during the holiday of Purim in Jerusalem. Jerusalem has received priority in deployment of forces in past months and for Purim," he added.
    The incident, which police said they were treating as a terrorist attack, took place on a main road in East Jerusalem, the predominantly Arab side of the city, close to an Israeli border police station.
    After crashing his vehicle, the driver got out and attempted to stab passersby with a knife before he was shot and wounded by police from the nearby station, police said.
    Four of those hit by the car were security officials. None was seriously injured. The incident took place on the Jewish holiday of Purim, when the streets are busy with pedestrians.
    The injured pedestrians and the driver were taken to hospital.
    Last October and November, there was a spate of similar attacks, with Palestinian drivers ramming their vehicles into people waiting at the city's light-rail stops. Those attacks killed three people and wounded around a dozen.
    Since tensions flared in Jerusalem late last year, following the Gaza war, the city has largely returned to normal.
    However, on Thursday the Palestine Liberation Organization agreed to suspend security coordination with Israel in the occupied West Bank, which officials are concerned could have a knock-on impact on security throughout the territory.
    The Palestinians seek a state in the West Bank and East Jerusalem - which have been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war - and in Gaza, a strip of land on the Mediterranean coast that is separated from the West Bank.
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