Truck attack kills 4 in Jerusalem

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — A Palestinian rammed a truck into a group of Israeli soldiers visiting a popular tourist spot in Jerusalem on Sunday, killing four and wounding 17 others, authorities said.

The driver was also killed at the location overlooking holy sites such as the Dome of the Rock.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleged the attacker "supported" the Daesh terror group, though he provided no details on what led to the finding.

"A lone terrorist drove his truck into a group of soldiers standing on the side of the road," Israeli forces spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld told reporters at the scene.

"They got off the bus, and as they were getting off the bus and getting organised, he took advantage."

After claims from some that soldiers were slow to react, Israel's military distributed a video of one of its troops saying he shot after realising it was not an accident.

"An investigation is under way but this attack lasted several seconds and once the soldiers understood that it was an attack, they fired in the direction of the vehicle," army spokesman Moti Almoz said in a statement.

Multiple bullet holes could be seen in the windshield of the truck.

Israel's military said four soldiers were killed and 17 wounded. Medics reported that three of the dead were women, while all four were in their 20s.

Video said to be of the incident being shared online shows a flatbed truck with a crane in the rear drive through a group of soldiers standing next to a bus.

The driver then pulls off to the side and tries to reverse back towards where the soldiers were hit before the truck eventually comes to a stop.

'Orders and screaming' 

The video showed visitors, including soldiers, running for cover as the incident began. Bodies were later covered in sheets.

"I heard my soldiers screaming and shouting," said one of the tour guides, Lea Schreiber. 

"I saw a truck that went on the side of the road. Soldiers starting shooting... There were orders and screaming everywhere. They told them to hide behind the wall because there was fear of another attack."

Netanyahu later visited the scene.

“We know the identity of the assailant, who according to all indications supported [Daesh],” he said in a statement released by his office.

Fawzi Barhum, a spokesman for Islamist movement Hamas which runs the Gaza Strip, called the attack “heroic and brave”.

Palestinian security officials said the driver was a Palestinian in his late 20s from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal Mukaber, located close to the scene. Palestinian media named him as Fadi Al Qanbar.

Rosenfeld said it was not yet clear if the attack had been planned earlier or was spontaneous.

It occurred in what was formerly designated a no-man’s land between mainly Palestinian east and Israeli-dominated west Jerusalem, near UN headquarters.

Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and Palestinian neighbourhoods are located nearby.

The European Union condemned the attack, as did the UN envoy for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov.

“It is reprehensible that some choose to glorify such acts which undermine the possibility of a peaceful future for both Palestinians and Israelis,” he said.

“There is nothing heroic in such actions.”