Truck Plows Into Israeli Soldiers in Jerusalem, Killing Four Israeli authorities call incident a suspected terror attack By Rory Jones
http://www.wsj.com/articles/truck-plows-into-pedestrians-in-jerusalem-killing-four-1483878413
TEL AVIV—A Palestinian man rammed a truck into Israeli soldiers on a busy promenade in Jerusalem on Sunday, killing four, in what Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a terrorist attack.
The driver targeted a group of Israeli soldiers disembarking from a bus in a popular tourist area overlooking Jerusalem’s Old City and was shot dead at the scene by security forces, police said.
A video published by Israeli media outlets showed the truck driving into the Israelis before attempting to ram them again. The attack killed three female soldiers and one male soldier, all in their 20s, Israeli authorities said. Some 17 other soldiers were wounded and evacuated to hospitals, they said.
“We know the identity of the perpetrator, who by all indications supports the Islamic State,” Mr. Netanyahu said as he visited the scene Sunday evening, according to his office.
Israeli police identified the driver of the truck as 28-year-old Fadi Qunbar. The Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, Wafa, said the driver was a Palestinian from East Jerusalem.
The attack came ahead of a conference France is convening this month with members of the international community in an effort to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and amid tension over a United Nations resolution last month that deemed Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal.
Mr. Netanyahu compared the Jerusalem attack with Islamic State-claimed truck-rammings last month at a Berlin Christmas market, which left 12 people dead, and in France last July, in which 86 were killed. He provided no evidence of links between Islamic State and Sunday’s attacker.
In the past, the Israeli leader has attempted to link Palestinian violence against Israeli civilians and soldiers with global acts of terrorism committed by Islamic State. But support for the terror group isn’t widespread among Palestinians, according to Israeli security officials.
There was no immediate claim or statement referencing the attack on Islamic State’s official media channels.
Medics and police arriving moments after Sunday’s truck-ramming described a bloody scene, with bodies wedged under the vehicle.
“When we arrived there was chaos,” said Chen Lendi Sharon, a medic who was among the first to arrive on the scene, according to a statement from Israel’s ambulance service. “I saw a truck that rammed youngsters getting off the bus.” CONTINUE AT SITE
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