By Stan Goodenough
Jul 02, 2008
At least four people were killed in Jerusalem early Wednesday afternoon when an Arab bulldozer driver turned his massive machine into a weapon of terror, trampling down pedestrians and plowing into cars and two public buses in the capital's downtown area.
An off-duty IDF-soldier reportedly shot and killed the terrorist, but not before he had successfully crushed a car, killing its woman driver, and tipped two buses onto their sides, injuring dozens of people, at least seven of them seriously.
Before the killer was shot dead, eye witnesses reported seeing panicking bystanders fleeing down Jaffa Street - one of Jerusalem's busiest roads - while other bystanders screamed for anyone with a gun to shoot.
A state of emergency was declared in the city following the attack.
Early investigations identified the Arab as an Israeli-identity-document-holding Jerusalem resident. He was a 32-year-old father of two.
It was the second terrorist attack carried out by an Arab Jerusalemite in recent months. Eight Yeshiva students were killed in March by a gun-toting terrorist from a neighborhood in the south of the city.