Infant killed, 8 wounded in Jerusalem ‘run-over’ terrorist attack
A 3-month-old baby girl has been killed and eight people injured when a car crashed into a light rail station in Jerusalem. The suspect, in what Israeli police believe was a "run-over terror attack," has been shot.
"A private car hit passengers from the light rail near the police national headquarters. The car's driver attempted to escape and was shot, apparently by a police officer from the Jerusalem district," police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement as cited by AFP.
Eyewitnesses told Haaretz newspaper a car drove up to the station and ran over passengers as they were getting off the train near Ammunition Hill on Wednesday.
Suspect vehicle at scene in Jerusalem. Strong possibility of terror attack. Police units at scene pic.twitter.com/0bw3dG135Y
— Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) October 22, 2014
"We can confirm that this was a terrorist attack. The driver ... is a resident of Silwan and has a terrorist background. He has served time in jail for terror activity," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
Gunshots were fired at the driver as he tried to escape. The alleged perpetrator received moderate to serious wounds and was arrested by the Jerusalem police.
Heightened security in Jerusalem after security assessments made. Arab Terrorist from silwan served in israel prison pic.twitter.com/jSjn69HfSU
— Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) October 22, 2014
Nine people, including the suspected terrorist, were wounded in the attack and were all taken to hospital.
A 3-month baby girl and 60-year-old woman have been “very seriously injured,” while the rest of the victims sustained moderate and light injuries, a spokesperson for Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom confirmed, The Times of Israel reported.
Doctors have failed to save the baby. The girl died of her injuries at Hadassah Medical Center a few hours after the accident.
"She is a pure baby girl who hasn't done anything bad to anyone," the girl's grandfather, who also was wounded in the accident, told Channel 2 TV, AP cited. "She was murdered for no reason."
Police have identified the suspect as Adbel-Rahman Shaloudi, 21, a resident of the Jerusalem predominantly Arab neighborhood of Silwan, who recently served 14 months in Israeli prison for security offenses.
The car belongs to Shaloudi's father, police has found out.
Following the accident, dozens of masked Palestinian youths blocked roads in Silwan, where they set tires alight and fired off firecrackers, The Times of Israel reported. Clashes were reported with Border Police troops, the newspaper said.
“Police units have been dispatched and have contained the rioting,” Rosenfeld said, adding that there have been no injuries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the attack, which he blamed on "Hamas, President [Mahmoud] Abbas' partner in the Palestinian government."
"This is the way in which Abu Mazen's (Abbas's) partners in government operate, the same Abu Mazen who just days ago incited to harm Jews in Jerusalem," a statement from Netanyahu's office said as cited by Reuters.
This August, a Palestinian man operating a digger flipped over a passenger bus, killing one person.
Last year, another Palestinian was killed by IDF troops after he smashed through the fence around an army base north of Jerusalem in a bulldozer.
In July 2008, three people were killed and dozens wounded when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem deliberately plowed a bulldozer into a passenger bus on the city’s Jaffa Street.
