Israeli policemen inspect a car after it rammed a group of pedestrians. (Agence France-Presse)
Jerusalem:
A Palestinian rammed a car into pedestrians in Jerusalem on Wednesday, killing a baby and injuring eight other people in what Israeli police said was a suspected "terror attack".
It was the second such deadly incident involving a vehicle driven by a Palestinian in three months, prompting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately order an increase in police presence across the city.
The driver, identified as a 21-year-old Palestinian from the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan, was shot and wounded as he tried to flee the scene, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said. His condition was described as moderate-to-serious.
Police described the incident as a "hit-and-run terror attack" -- the term for a deliberate attack with a vehicle.
During the attack, which took place shortly before 6:00 pm (1500 GMT), the car ploughed into a group of pedestrians walking near the Ammunition Hill tram stop, on the seamline between west and occupied east Jerusalem.
Nine people were hurt, among them a three-month-old baby girl who later died of her injuries, a spokeswoman for Hadassah hospital told AFP.
Police and medics said that the driver tried to run off after the car hit the pedestrians and came to a stop.
"The driver apparently tried to flee on foot and was shot and wounded by a policeman," Samri said.
"Initial indications suggest this is a hit-and-run terror attack."
It was the second such deadly attack with a vehicle in the city in just under three months.
During the most recent incident in August, which took place in the same area, a Palestinian man rammed a bus with an excavator, killing one Israeli and injuring five. The driver was shot dead by police.
- 'Missed us by centimetres' -
In Wednesday's incident, eyewitness who had just got off the train said the car ploughed into the pedestrians at great speed.
"We saw a car coming from the north at full speed," said Eli Dayan who was standing on the pavement with his son when the car struck.
"We realised something was going on. He missed us by a few centimetres," he told AFP.
Aside from the baby who was killed, two other people were seriously hurt, while two suffered moderate wounds and the rest had light injuries, medics said.
At the scene, a silver car with a badly-dented front stood on the pavement and two stationary trains at the nearby tram station, an AFP correspondent said.
Dozens of onlookers watched as police sealed off access to the road, a major artery known as Route 1, causing major traffic jams throughout the rest of the city.
Samri identified the driver as a 21-year-old Palestinian from Silwan, a densely populated Arab neighbourhood which lies on the southern flank of the Old City.
- Driver from Silwan -
The district has hit the headlines in recent weeks after hardline Jewish settlers acquired 35 apartments there, triggering a furious reaction from both Palestinians and the international community.
Hours after Wednesday's attack, dozens of masked Palestinians began hurling stones at police in Silwan, who responded with riot control means, Samri said.
Family members told AFP that the 21-year-old driver was a close relative of a senior Hamas bomb-maker called Muhi al-Din Sharif who was killed in the West Bank city of Ramallah in mysterious circumstances in 1998.
Israeli officials also identified the Palestinian driver as a member of the radical Islamist Hamas movement.
"The Palestinian terrorist who ran over eight people in Jerusalem this evening, injuring them and killing a baby, was a member of Hamas," Netanyahu's spokesman Ofir Gendelman wrote on Twitter.
Netanyahu lashed out at Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, whose Fatah movement signed a reconciliation agreement with Hamas this year, leading to the establishment of a jointly-agreed government of national consensus.
"This is how Abu Mazen's partners in government act, the same Abu Mazen who -- only a few days ago -- incited toward a terrorist attack in Jerusalem," Netanyahu said, using the Palestinian leader's nickname.
He was referring to comments in which Abbas had pledged to prevent religious Jews from visiting Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound "by all means" following a series of clashes at the site, which is holy to both Muslims and Jews.
It was the second such deadly incident involving a vehicle driven by a Palestinian in three months, prompting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately order an increase in police presence across the city.
The driver, identified as a 21-year-old Palestinian from the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan, was shot and wounded as he tried to flee the scene, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said. His condition was described as moderate-to-serious.
Police described the incident as a "hit-and-run terror attack" -- the term for a deliberate attack with a vehicle.
During the attack, which took place shortly before 6:00 pm (1500 GMT), the car ploughed into a group of pedestrians walking near the Ammunition Hill tram stop, on the seamline between west and occupied east Jerusalem.
Nine people were hurt, among them a three-month-old baby girl who later died of her injuries, a spokeswoman for Hadassah hospital told AFP.
Police and medics said that the driver tried to run off after the car hit the pedestrians and came to a stop.
"The driver apparently tried to flee on foot and was shot and wounded by a policeman," Samri said.
"Initial indications suggest this is a hit-and-run terror attack."
It was the second such deadly attack with a vehicle in the city in just under three months.
During the most recent incident in August, which took place in the same area, a Palestinian man rammed a bus with an excavator, killing one Israeli and injuring five. The driver was shot dead by police.
- 'Missed us by centimetres' -
In Wednesday's incident, eyewitness who had just got off the train said the car ploughed into the pedestrians at great speed.
"We saw a car coming from the north at full speed," said Eli Dayan who was standing on the pavement with his son when the car struck.
"We realised something was going on. He missed us by a few centimetres," he told AFP.
Aside from the baby who was killed, two other people were seriously hurt, while two suffered moderate wounds and the rest had light injuries, medics said.
At the scene, a silver car with a badly-dented front stood on the pavement and two stationary trains at the nearby tram station, an AFP correspondent said.
Dozens of onlookers watched as police sealed off access to the road, a major artery known as Route 1, causing major traffic jams throughout the rest of the city.
Samri identified the driver as a 21-year-old Palestinian from Silwan, a densely populated Arab neighbourhood which lies on the southern flank of the Old City.
- Driver from Silwan -
The district has hit the headlines in recent weeks after hardline Jewish settlers acquired 35 apartments there, triggering a furious reaction from both Palestinians and the international community.
Hours after Wednesday's attack, dozens of masked Palestinians began hurling stones at police in Silwan, who responded with riot control means, Samri said.
Family members told AFP that the 21-year-old driver was a close relative of a senior Hamas bomb-maker called Muhi al-Din Sharif who was killed in the West Bank city of Ramallah in mysterious circumstances in 1998.
Israeli officials also identified the Palestinian driver as a member of the radical Islamist Hamas movement.
"The Palestinian terrorist who ran over eight people in Jerusalem this evening, injuring them and killing a baby, was a member of Hamas," Netanyahu's spokesman Ofir Gendelman wrote on Twitter.
Netanyahu lashed out at Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, whose Fatah movement signed a reconciliation agreement with Hamas this year, leading to the establishment of a jointly-agreed government of national consensus.
"This is how Abu Mazen's partners in government act, the same Abu Mazen who -- only a few days ago -- incited toward a terrorist attack in Jerusalem," Netanyahu said, using the Palestinian leader's nickname.
He was referring to comments in which Abbas had pledged to prevent religious Jews from visiting Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound "by all means" following a series of clashes at the site, which is holy to both Muslims and Jews.
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