Bulldozer aanval in Jeruzalem verwondt politieagenten

 

Vorig jaar waren er ook al twee van dergelijke incidenten in Jeruzalem. Het is een kwestie van geluk dat de bulldozer de bus niet heeft getroffen, en de beide politie agenten slechts lichte verwondingen opliepen.

 

RP

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Jerusalem: Bulldozer plows into police vehicle; terrorist killed
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3681772,00.html

 

Tractor overturns police squad car on Menachem Begin Boulevard in the capital; misses nearby bus. Two officers injured, neutralize attacker

 

Ronen Medzini
Published:  03.05.09, 13:32

 

 

A tractor plowed into a police squad car on Menachem Begin Boulevard in Jerusalem on Thursday. The driver was apparently also trying to hit a bus parked nearby, but missed. The bus was empty at the time.

 

Two police officers were in the car when it was hit and both sustained mild injuries. Other police officers patrolling nearby shot the terrorist.

 

Magen David Adom emergency services were immediately dispatched to the area. The paramedics treated both the injured officers and the tractor driver, who reportedly sustained severe injuries.

 

One of the police officers and the terrorist were taken to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. The other police officer was taken to the capital's Shaare Zedek Medical Center. The tractor driver was later pronounced dead.

According to the initial police investigation, the tractor driver "hammered into the police car, flipping it over and dragging it on the road. A second, Jerusalem Police tourism unit squad car was alerted to the attack and the officer and volunteer in it stepped out of the vehicle, the officer fired several shots at the terrorist and neutralized him.

 

"A second police officer who arrived at the scene, as well as the volunteer and a taxi driver who pulled over, all fired at the terrorist as well. The driver was critically injured, taken off the tractor and rushed to a nearby hospital, where he later died of his wounds."

 

Jerusalem District Police Commander Nissan Shaham added that the driver "had an open Quran in the tractor" at the time of the attack.

 

Three schoolgirls who witnessed the events were treated for shock. "This was nothing short of a miracle," Haim Weingarten of Zaka (Disaster Victim Identification), told Ynet. "The terrorist was apparently aiming for the bus, but a power pole that had fallen on the road stopped it."

 

"I was about 100 yards away from (the attack) and I could see this tractor run amuck. It looked like to also hit a bus that was in the intersection. Then it seemed to turn and go after the police car," eyewitness Sunny Benyamini told Ynet.

"I saw the (police) car go backwards and forwards and then the policemen shot at the tractor. It came to a stop and many people around it jumped on it and overpowered the driver," he said.

 

MDA Director-General Eli Bin confirmed that "two police officers were treated at the scene and rushed to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. The terrorist was neutralized within minutes. The security forces and the emergency teams operated in an exemplary fashion," he added.

Thursday's tractor attack is the third of its kind in the capital: July of 2008 saw two such attacks – the first resulting in three people dead and 30 injured and the second resulting in 18 people injured. In both cases, the assailant was a resident of east Jerusalem.

 

 

Roi Mandel and Daniel Edelson contributed to this report