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World Jewish News
Driver of tractor shot dead in Jerusalem terror attack
05.03.2009
A tractor driver was shot dead after intentionally attacking a police car on Thursday and trying to tip over additional vehicles including a public bus at the Golomb intersection, near Jerusalem's Malha Mall. Army Radio reported that the tractor driver was critically wounded immediately.
Less than an hour after the attack, Nissim Shahar, deputy commander of the Jerusalem Police, told Channel 2 that the terrorist had died.
Two police officers were reportedly lightly injured in the attack, Army Radio said.
Initially the terrorist was said to have been killed by the shots fired, but later reports said he was still breathing.
A taxi driver who saw the tractor trying to approach the bus opened fire at the tractor driver, and a police officer also fired shots at the tractor driver.
Police, MDA and ZAKA forces streamed to the scene minutes later, after police received emergency calls telling them that a tractor was trying to run over a police vehicle.
An initial police investigation indicated that the tractor driver reached the intersection near the Teddy Stadium and managed to push a police vehicle for about 30 meters. After that, he tried to push the police vehicle into a bus, but was blocked apparently by an electrical post.
According to ZAKA, the bus was full of girls dressed in Purim costumes en route to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital to cheer up patients in advance of the holiday.
A number of bystanders suffering from shock were treated on the scene by MDA teams.
ZAKA operation commander Haim Weinrot said that "the girls were hysterical. They saw the enormous scoop heading toward them and saw death approaching, but they were saved at the last minute by the post. It is a Purim miracle."
Within a half-hour after the attack, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barakat was on the scene to personally inspect the situation.
"The attack targeted us for no reason other than the fact that we live in Jerusalem," said Barkat on the scene. "This was an attack carried out exclusively for the purpose of harming civilians."
He also thanked police, security forces and civilians who stopped the attack, and vowed that "everyone involved in the attack" would be brought to justice.
The tractor remained on the scene, with the driver still in the cabin. Traffic was almost immediately blocked in all directions, and residents were advised to avoid the area.
Police and security forces began an investigation into the circumstances of the incident.
The attack is the third of its kind in less than a year. At the beginning of last July, a bulldozer plowed into a number of vehicles on Jaffa Street, near the Mahene Yehuda market in the capital. Five people were killed in that incident, including the terrorist.
Three weeks later, another tractor driver went on a rampage in Jerusalem, aiming his vehicle at an Egged bus near the King David hotel. He was shot and killed before anybody was wounded.
Источник: JPost.com
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