Tel Aviv attack: Passengers were ‘screaming for help’
The police commander who caught the Tel Aviv bus attacker spoke on Wednesday about how he and his team of officers, who happened to be passing by, managed to prevent the stabber from getting away.
Benny Botarshvili, who commands officers from the Israel Prison Service’s Nahshon unit, said he and three officers were on their way to court when commotion from a nearby bus caught their attention.
“We were driving near the Ma’ariv junction on our way to the courthouse and we heard a commotion from a bus and people screaming for help,” Botarshvili said.
Nine stabbed on Tel Aviv bus in suspected terrorist attack
“We saw the attacker and chased after him. We fired at his feet and the attacker fell to the ground. We restrained him on the ground until area police could arrive at the scene.”
The attacker is a 23-year-old man from the West Bank city of Tulkarm, illegally residing in Israel, police said.
The suspected terrorist stabbed at least nine people on the 40 bus line in Tel Aviv near the Maariv junction around 7.30am on Wednesday.
Two of the victims were seriously injured and several others suffered moderate injuries, Magen David Adom said. Others at the scene were treated for shock.
The injured were evacuated to the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer and Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
Hamas on Wednesday condoned the attack, calling it an act of heroism.
Izzat al-Risheq, a senior Hamas official, said the stabbing attack “against Zionists in Tel Aviv is a brave and heroic act.”
The event was deemed a “natural response to Israeli terrorism,” by Hamas Spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri, who issued an official statement as events unfolded in Tel Aviv.
The incident, the statement said, was a response to ongoing “Israeli crimes” against the Palestinian people.
JPOST.COM
Photo: Ben Hartman.
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