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Bulldozer driver killed as he flips Israeli police car
Ed Harris05.03.09
A Palestinian construction worker was shot dead after ramming his bulldozer into a bus and a police car on a Jerusalem highway today.
Two police officers were wounded in the latest in a string of attacks by militants using heavy machinery against Israeli targets.
Witnesses said the yellow front-loader sped along the road, caught a police car and flipped it into the air. The driver then tried to crush the car with his vehicle's front shovel before he was shot and injured by a taxi-driver and then shot dead by a policeman. The attack occurred on Begin Highway, which connects north and south Jerusalem.
Witnesses said the attacker apparently worked at a construction site. There was no immediate claim of responsibility or details of the man's identity. "It was simply an attack meant to murder innocent people," said mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat. He called for the demolition of the Palestinian's home to deter further attacks - a tactic that has drawn international criticism in the past.
The rampage happened as Israel was preparing to celebrate Purim, a public holiday in which children wear costumes and families attend parties and public events.
A taxi driver told an Israeli TV station: "I saw the police car fly into the air. He flipped it over twice, then continued dragging it toward a bus that was stuck in traffic." The taxi driver said he fired four shots at the man, wounding him. "Then a policeman came with his M-16 and finished him off," he added.
Deputy police chief Nisso Shachar said an open copy of the Koran was found in the vehicle. It was the third bulldozer attack in Jerusalem in the past eight months.
