Truck rams into soldiers

JERUSALEM: A truck rammed into a group of Israeli soldiers who were disembarking from a bus in Jerusalem yesterday near the Armon Hanatziv Promenade, killing at least four people and wounding 15 others, Israeli police and rescue services said.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the truck veered off course and rammed into the group. She said the attacker was shot dead.

The BBC reported an unnamed police spokeswoman telling Israel Radio: “It is a terrorist attack, a ramming attack.” It said the station reported that bodies were “strewn on the street”.

Haaretz online said people were initially trapped under the truck and that among the deceased were three women and a man, all in their twenties. The website quoted Police Chief Roni Alsheich as also describing the incident as a terror attack, saying the assailant came from East Jerusalem.

The incident comes just weeks after a truck attack in Berlin, Germany, at a Christmas market where 12 people were killed, and a similar attack in Nice, France, in July last year that killed 86.

It also comes amid a more than yearlong wave of Palestinian shooting, stabbing and vehicular attacks against Israelis that has slowed of late.

Yesterday’s incident marks the first Israeli casualties in three months.

Since September 2015, Palestinian attackers have killed 40 Israelis and two visiting Americans. During that time, 229 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire. Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were attackers while the rest died in clashes.

Israel says the violence is driven by a Palestinian campaign of incitement, while Palestinians say it’s the result of nearly 50 years of Israeli occupation and dwindling hopes for an independent state.