Twelve wounded in stabbing attack on Tel Aviv bus

The assailant was travelling on the bus when he began stabbing other passengers, including the driver.

An Israeli police officer and paramedics treat an injured man at the scene of a stabbing in Tel Aviv, Israel, on January 21, 2015. Oded Balilty/AP Photo

JERUSALEM // A Palestinian man stabbed passengers on a bus in central Tel Aviv on Wednesday, wounding 12 people before being shot in the leg as he tried to flee.

Police identified the assailant as a 23-year-old resident of Tulkarem in the West Bank, and said he had entered Israel illegally.

The man was travelling on the bus with other passengers when he began stabbing people, including the driver. He managed to get out of the bus and attempted to flee the scene.

Officers from a prison service who were nearby saw the bus swerving out of control and a man running away.

They gave chase, shot the man in the leg – wounding him lightly – and subsequently arrested him.

Twelve people were wounded in the attack, including three who were in serious condition, four in moderate condition and five who sustained light injuries, hospital sources said.

Another seven people were treated for shock.

“The terrorist stabbed the bus driver several times but the driver fought back until he fled on foot and was neutralised by a guard from the prisons’ service,” a police statement said.

Witnesses told army radio the driver apparently used pepper spray or tear gas to try to stop the attack.

The stabber was in custody and being questioned by police.

The last attack in Tel Aviv was on November 10 when a Palestinian from the northern West Bank stabbed a young Israeli soldier who later died of his injuries.

That incident took place as Israel was struggling to contain a growing wave of violence in occupied east Jerusalem which spread to Arab towns and villages in Israel.

It has since abated, although there have been a number of violent incidents over the past month.

* Associated Press and Agence France-Presse