Three killed in Jerusalem bulldozer attack
Pastor Dale Morgan
Three killed in Jerusalem bulldozer attack*
* Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
* guardian.co.uk,
* Wednesday July 2, 2008
A Palestinian construction worker killed three people when he drove a
large bulldozer down a busy one of Jerusalem's busiest streets
yesterday, crushing cars and toppling a bus in what Israeli police said
was a terrorist attack.
At least 44 others were injured: drivers in cars, pedestrians and
passengers in the bus that was driving up Jaffa Road, in west Jerusalem,
at the time of the incident.
Police said the man, aged 30 and a resident of East Jerusalem, seized
control of the Caterpillar bulldozer shortly after midday and drove
several hundred metres down the street into the oncoming traffic before
he was overpowered by policemen and private security guards and
eventually shot dead.
As many as three different Palestinian militant groups claimed
responsibility for the killings, but there was no confirmation that the
attack was organised in advance or that the attacker, identified as
Hussam Dwikat, had any links to militant groups.
Yossi Levi, 34, was driving nearby when the man first took control of
the bulldozer. Levi stopped his car and ran to help the injured. "We saw
the tractor start to drive towards the first car and then it simply ran
it over," he said.
"He didn't stop and went on towards other vehicles. When he hit the
first car we knew something was wrong, when he hit the second we figured
it was an attack and by the time he hit the third we were sure. People
started to run away, drivers got out of their cars and ran."
At least one of the dead was a woman driver who was crushed inside her car.
As the bulldozer careered down the street the driver had the shovel
raised and used it to collide into the crowded bus, knocking it on its
side. The injured were pulled free through the bus' smashed windscreen.
Levi and a crowd of others ran towards the bulldozer shouting and
throwing stones. "We were chasing it and looking for someone with a
weapon who could stop it," he said.
He saw a policeman appear to overpower the driver and bring the
bulldozer to a halt. "The policeman said he had the driver under control
but I told the policeman: 'Shoot him. Shoot him.' Many people were
screaming next to me: 'Shoot him.' The policeman had his handgun out but
he didn't shoot."
The bulldozer began to lurch down the street again before more policeman
jumped into the cab and fired several bullets, eventually shooting the
driver dead and dumping his body on the road.
Eli Mizrahi, an officer in a special anti-terror unit, said he and his
partner sped to the scene on a motorcycle from the nearby Mahane Yehuda
market. An off-duty soldier had just shot the attacker, but not killed him.
"I ran up the stairs [of the bulldozer] and, when he was still driving
like crazy and trying to harm civilians, I fired at him twice more and,
that's it, he was liquidated," Mizrahi told reporters.
After the attack a line of flattened cars and debris lay along the
stretch of road, next to the large construction site for a new train
service where the bulldozer had originally been working.
Dudi Cohen, Israel's police chief, said the attacker appeared to be
acting alone. "It looks as if it was a spontaneous act," he said.
Last night five Israeli military vehicles were parked outside the
attacker's two-storey home. Neighbours said he had no apparent links to
militant groups.
The incident was the first major attack in Jerusalem since March, when a
gunman walked into a Jewish seminary and shot eight students dead.
Although it is unlikely to derail the already fragile peace talks
between Israel and the Palestinians, the attack is likely to lead to
more restrictions on Palestinians living in Jerusalem and working in the
city and across Israel.