05/11/2014 18:52
Palestinian kills Israeli in Jerusalem car attack
A Palestinian man rammed a minivan into a crowded train platform in east Jerusalem on Wednesday and then attacked people with an iron bar after leaving the vehicle, killing one person and injuring 13 in what authorities called a terror attack before he was shot dead by police, The Associated Press reported.
The militant Hamas group took responsibility for the attack -- the second such assault in east Jerusalem in the past two weeks -- which escalated already heightened tensions between Arabs and Jews in the city.
Earlier Wednesday, Israeli police had dispersed dozens of masked Palestinians who threw rocks and firecrackers near a contested holy site in Jerusalem's Old City. Neighboring Jordan called back the kingdom's ambassador to Israel for consultations in a gesture of protest over the violence in east Jerusalem.
Police said the motorist slammed his car — a white minivan — into the train platform in east Jerusalem first, backed out and proceeded to drive away, hitting several cars along the way. He then got out of the car and attacked a group of civilians and police officers on the side of the road with a metal bar before he was shot and killed. Security camera footage appeared to show him darting about a crowded intersection before he was shot.
Israeli police said "one person was killed and about a dozen people were injured in the terror attack."
Police identified the attacker as Ibrahim al-Akri, a 38-year-old Palestinian, and said he had recently been released from prison after serving time for security offenses.