East Jerusalem man wounds five in car ramming ‘attack’, shot dead

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: A resident of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem wounded on Monday five pedestrians in the city centre before being shot dead, in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “terrorist attack”.

The Magen David Adom emergency service said those hurt included a 70-year-old man who was left in a “serious condition”, as well as a 30-year-old woman.

Police said the driver, a man in his 30s, was a resident of Beit Safafa, a Palestinian neighbourhood in east Jerusalem.

“A citizen who witnessed the incident and was near the scene shot and neutralised the terrorist,” police said in a statement, adding the driver was “pronounced dead at the scene”.

The incident took place near the usually bustling Mahane Yehuda market in west Jerusalem.

Medics subsequently loaded a body bag into an ambulance, according to two AFP journalists. They also saw a badly damaged car and dozens of police officers within a cordon, while scores of onlookers surveyed the scene.

Speaking after the incident, Netanyahu said: “A few minutes ago, not far from here, there was another attempt to murder Israeli citizens.”

The prime minister described the event as a “terrorist attack”, as Israel prepared to mark the 75th anniversary of its founding this week.