Baby killed, seven injured in terror attack in Jerusalem

Israeli policemen inspect a car wreck in Jerusalem October 22, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

JERUSALEM -- A Palestinian man slammed a car into a crowded rail station in Jerusalem, killing an infant and injuring seven other people on Wednesday, in a suspected "terror attack," police said.

Asi Aharoni, a spokesperson for the Jerusalem district police, said that at approximately 18:00 (15:00 GMT), a motorist on a private car hit pedestrians near a light rail station in Jerusalem. "The suspect tried to flee the area on foot, but a policeman identified him and shot and wounded him," Aharoni said.

The suspect was taken to hospital in "a fatal condition," a spokesperson with Magen David Adom, Israel's Red Cross, told Xinhua.

The police said the perpetrator's car belong to a Palestinian resident of Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood of east Jerusalem. Channel 10 identified the man as Abdelrahman A-Shuldi, a 21-year old Hamas member who served time in Israeli prison for "security offenses."

The attack wounded eight people, including a three-month old baby who later succumbed to her wounds and died, the Hadassah hospital said in a statement.

Following the incident, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held "a security consultation" with the Minister of Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Police Commissioner Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino and Israel Security Service (Shin Bet) Director Yoram Cohen. Netanyahu ordered that security forces in Jerusalem should be reinforced.

Netanyahu blamed Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas for the incident, saying "This is how Abu Mazen's partners in government act, the same Abu Mazen who-- only a few days ago -- incited toward a terrorist attack in Jerusalem."

The incident occurred at a light rail stop in the Ammunition Hill, located on the seamline between west and occupied east Jerusalem.

There have been numerous attacks by Palestinians in recent weeks against the light rail in Jerusalem, amidst simmering tensions in the city since Israel's embarked in July on a 50-day long devastating military campaign in Gaza.

Silwan is located in east Jerusalem, a territory Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and which was later annexed in a move that has not been recognized internationally.

Over the past month, Jewish settlers took over more than 30 apartments in Silwan, as part of their efforts to settle as many Jews as possible in Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem.