| A Palestinian driver rammed his bulldozer into a police car, rolling it over until it slammed into a bus at one of Jerusalem's busiest intersections on Thursday before police and a taxi driver shot him dead. An open Koran, the Muslim holy book, was found in the driver's cabin, Niso Shaham, Jerusalem's deputy police chief, told reporters at the scene. A police spokesman said it was a "terrorist" attack. Israeli police and Palestinian residents identified the driver as Marei Radaydeh, a West Bank construction worker in his mid-20s who lived with his family in the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina. No Palestinian militant groups have claimed responsibility for the incident, which came a day after a visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Video from a traffic camera showed the bulldozer lowering its front shovel before striking a parked police car. The bulldozer then rolled the vehicle across the intersection, flipping it over and smashing it into a bus. Police said two officers inside the car were injured. Riyad al-Malki, information minister for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Western-backed government, described the incident as a "traffic accident," and called for an investigation into why the bulldozer driver was shot. Hamas said the attack was a "natural response" to Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and to the Jewish state's military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which the Islamist movement controls. Hamas and Abbas's ... |
