Israeli medics evacuate a wounded woman
from the scene of an attack in Jerusalem July 2, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters
Photo) Photo
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JERUSALEM, July 2 (Xinhua) -- A bulldozer went on a
rampage in Jerusalem on Wednesday, hitting several cars and knocking over a bus,
the death toll rose to four and dozens injured.
The bulldozer hit vehicles and pedestrians along its
way, slamming into and knocking over a crowded bus near the old Central Bus
Station in the northwestern part of the downtown Jerusalem, before the driver
was shot dead.
Israeli local TV channel 10 reported that at least 4
people were killed and about 30 were injured during the series of attacks. One
of the dead was a woman who was driving a Toyota when her car was smashed by the
bulldozer.
Israeli police and Maged David Adom (MDA) rescue
services rushed to the scene. The MDA reported that 22 were admitted to
hospitals, among whom two were seriously wounded, four moderately and others
lightly injured.
"I saw the tractor's shovel turn to the bus and
deliberately hit it. It hit other vehicles as well," an Israel Radio reporter
said.
The motive of the attacks is still unknown, and there
has been no immediate claim of responsibility. Police said the attack appears to
have been politically motivated.
Local daily Ha'aretz reported that the bulldozer
driver, a Palestinian resident of east Jerusalem, possessed an Israeli
identification card and had a criminal police record.
The attack set off a panic in downtown Jerusalem.
Sirens were heard across the downtown, and dozens of people were seen running
through the streets to flee the scene of the attack.
A state of emergency was declared in Jerusalem
following bus attack.
The newspaper said the incident marked the first
terror attack in Jerusalem since a gunman killed eight students in a religious
school in March.
GAZA, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement on
Wednesday refused to extend praise to a Jerusalem rampage that led to the death
of several Israelis as what the Islamic Jihad movement did.
Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas which controls
the Gaza Strip, said his movement had no information about the reasons that
motivated a Palestinian bulldozer driver to hit cars and bus in Jerusalem.
Abu Zuhri, however, said if the attack was
politically motivated, "then it will be a natural result of the continuation of
the Israeli aggression against our people in West Bank and Gaza
Strip." Full story
