Bulldozer Attack Kills 3 In Jerusalem

An Israeli official said at least three people were killed and 35 wounded Wednesday in a rampage by a Palestinian bulldozer driver in Jerusalem.

The driver plowed his bulldozer into a string of cars and a bus in downtown Jerusalem on Wednesday before police shot him dead. Police say the attack appears to have been politically motivated.

A woman's body lay lifeless in the street, and Jerusalem Ambulance service spokesman Yonatan Yagodovsky told the British Broadcasting Corp. shortly after the attack that at least three people had been killed and seven more were in critical condition.

He said the casualty toll was preliminary due to the fact that emergency workers were treating people at three separate scenes involved in the incident.

According to the AFP news agency, the militant Hamas group, which runs the Gaza Strip, released a statement saying it was not aware of who carried out the attack, but calling it the "natural result of Israeli aggression."

CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reported that determining whether this attack was the work of an individual, or part of a wider plan by a militant group, will no doubt influence Israel's reaction.

Phillips said the tractor was believed to have been involved in a construction project running along Jerusalem's Jaffa Road - a major artery running through the city.

The BBC's reporter in Jerusalem said he witnessed the entire attack from his office on Jaffa Road. He said a pair of security guards tried to kill the bulldozer driver with their firearms, but he survived after a tussle in the cab. Soon after, he was later shot several times in the head by a responding police officer.

Video of the attack showed the driver being shot at least once while still trying to drive the huge piece of machinery.

The attack wreaked havoc in downtown West Jerusalem - the Jewish half of the contested city. Traffic was halted, and hundreds of people fled through the streets in panic as medics treated the wounded.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the BBC that the attacker was an Israeli Arab from East Jerusalem. Rosenfeld said the man did have a criminal record, but had no known links to terrorism or militant groups. He said the attack appeared to have been "sporadic".

Immediately after the attack, injured people lay on the ground amid piles of broken glass and blood stains on the ground. A baby had blood all over its face, and the driver of the bulldozer was slumped motionless over the steering wheel.

Yagodovsky told the BBC that Israel had seen "similar attacks years ago involving trucks or tractors, but it's been a long time."

Meanwhile, Palestinian witnesses said Wednesday that an angry crowd of people in the Gaza Strip stormed a border crossing with Egypt and were throwing rocks at Egyptian troops.

The witnesses said Egypt was repelling the crowd with water cannons, and no one had made it across the border.

The Palestinians were upset that they are not being allowed to cross into Egypt. The Egyptians had promised to open the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, but only a small number of Palestinians had been allowed through.

Egypt has kept the crossing sealed since Hamas militants seized control of Gaza more than a year ago.

Rafah is the main gateway for Palestinians to the outside world. In January, Hamas militants blew open the border, allowing thousands of people to cross through until it was resealed about two weeks later.