Pali bulldozer driver shot dead in Jerusalem copycat attack
* 16 injured in Jerusalem after digger driver goes on rampage Guardian
* Pali Arab kills 3 in Jerusalem bulldozer attack Reuters/previous attack
JERUSALEM (AFP) — A Palestinian bulldozer driver was shot dead in Jerusalem on Tuesday after injuring at least 16 people as he rammed cars in the second such attack this month, Israeli police and medics said.
Israeli police gather evidence next to a digger whose driver was shot dead after crashing into a bus and cars in central Jerusalem.
Jerusalem police chief Aharon Franco said “the terrorist was neutralised very quickly” and police were working to reopen the street near the landmark King David Hotel in central Jerusalem to traffic.
On July 2, a Palestinian killed three people and wounded 30 others when he rammed a bulldozer into a bus and cars on a busy Jerusalem street before being shot dead.
Franco said said Tuesday’s assailant attacked a bus, failing to overturn it, but smashing its windows.
“The bulldozer then rammed five cars and damaged them. A civilian tried to stop him when a border guard arrived and neutralised him.”
In the July 2 incident, the attacker managed to flip a bus, decapitating its driver in the process.
Tuesday’s incident took place near the King David Hotel, where British Prime Minister Gordon Brown stayed during a visit to Jerusalem earlier this week.
It also came a day before US presidential candidate Barack Obama is due in town to hold a round of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials on the latest leg of a tour of the Middle East and Europe.
Kenny Leiner, 67, a New Yorker living in Jerusalem, said he was eating at a restaurant when “we heard a boom and the waiter alerted us that it was a terrorist attack.
“I started to run after the truck. I thought maybe I could do something. I saw the driver going boom in a car, boom in a second car. Then the police started to shoot at him. I feel horrible.”
Israeli Yohanan Levine, 16, said “I was going home when I saw the tractor going into a bus four or five times. All the windows of the bus exploded.
“Then I saw the tractor going down the street pushing cars. At this moment I (the driver) in the eye and I saw more people running, and after two minutes I heard two or three gunshots.”
Commenting on the Obama visit, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said “we heightened the security immediately after the attack and we will heighten … until after Obama’s visit.”
Tuesday’s attacker was named as Ghassan Abu Tir, 22, from Umm Tuba, a district of occupied east Jerusalem.
In the July 2 incident, the perpetrator was a 30-year-old east Jerusalem man who worked for an Israeli company at a nearby construction site.
In that case, all indications were that what Israel called a terrorist attack was a spontaneous incident carried out by a father of two with a criminal past but no known links to armed groups.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s spokesman, Mark Regev, said: “This was another attempt to murder innocent people in a senseless act of terror.”
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski said Israel should “reconsider the way in which we employ Arabs on construction sites.”
At least 525 people have been killed since peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians resumed in November after a seven-year hiatus, mostly militants in the besieged Gaza Strip, according to an AFP count.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
>>”Jerusalem: Another Case of ‘Dozer Jihad
They shouldn’t let Muslims in non-Muslim countries drive vehicles that are newer, bigger, faster or more expensive than non-Muslims. They also shouldn’t let them use colorful paint or have a horn. Perhaps only those miniature cars used by circus clowns that were made before 1970. Kinda like Muslims not allowing non-Muslims having bigger, better , etc. Horses in their countries. They only understand their own language. That’s all.
Someone should tell these people that bulldozers are used for work. That ought to keep them away from them at last.
Obviously this method of construction vehicle Jihad was dreamed up recently at a local area Philestina Mosque. The murder cult thinks they are so sneaky.
No – I suspect that the muslim driver got confused by all those dials on the front panel – Last time I checked a Massey-Ferguson there were at least 4 (my memory for this detail is not good so the number may be in error) – awesome that he even got that far!!!!
Monkey see, monkey do.