A man rammed a construction vehicle into three cars and a city bus on a busy downtown Jerusalem street Tuesday, before he was shot dead in the second such incident in the area this month.
Four people were injured before a civilian shot and killed the driver, and police are searching for two suspects who fled the scene, police said.
The attack happened several hundred metres from the luxury King David Hotel, where U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama is scheduled to stay Tuesday night during a trip to Israel.
Earlier in July, on another busy Jerusalem street five kilometres away, a Palestinian from east Jerusalem plowed a front-end loader into a string of vehicles and pedestrians, killing three and injuring dozens before an off-duty officer shot the assailant dead.
Officials also identified the latest attacker as a Palestinian from east Jerusalem with an Israeli residence permit, and called it a "terror attack," though no group immediately claimed responsibility.
An attorney for the family of the construction worker who perpetrated the July 2 attack later told media the man "went berserk" and acted completely alone.
'Just kept ramming into cars'
Israeli rescue services said one person evacuated had a partially severed leg. Local media also reported that a mother and her baby were among the injured.
Witness Moshe Shimshi said the driver slammed into the side of the bus, then sped away and went for a car. "He didn't yell anything, he just kept ramming into cars," Shimshi said.
The driver then headed for cars waiting at a red light "and rammed into them with all his might," he added.
Officers sealed off all possible escape routes into the predominantly Arab East Jerusalem on Tuesday and were searching for the two suspects, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
Arab residents of East Jerusalem, like other Arab Israelis, have full freedom to work and travel throughout Israel. They have the same blue identity cards issued to all Israeli citizens.
The July 2 attack plus a deadly shooting at a Jerusalem religious school in March renewed debate over the status of Palestinian residents in the largely Arab East Jerusalem since both attackers were Palestinians living and moving freely within the city's confines.
