Palestinian kills 3 in rampage

JERUSALEM (AP) — The yellow construction vehicle rumbled down Jerusalem’s central thoroughfare, steamrolling everything in its path, plucking cars off the street, swinging them into the air and crushing them to the ground with people trapped inside.

A Palestinian laborer driving a huge front loader went on a deadly rampage in downtown Jerusalem on Wednesday, killing three people, wounding more than 45 and sending hundreds of panicked residents running for cover before security forces shot the attacker dead.

The unusual weapon — a yellow Caterpillar front loader transformed into a deadly assault vehicle — threatened both Israelis’ sense of security and Palestinians’ fragile status in the city.

Three Palestinian militant groups claimed responsibility for the onslaught, the first major attack in Jerusalem in four months.

However, Israeli police said the assailant, a 30-year-old Palestinian from Arab east Jerusalem, apparently acted alone. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the man was working on a railway project in Jerusalem.

The attack was a departure from militants’ previous methods, which have consisted mostly of suicide bombings and shooting sprees.

“To our regret the attackers do not cease coming up with new ways to strike at the heart of the Jewish people here in Jerusalem,” said Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, whose daughter was on a bus rammed by the attacker. She was not injured.

Israel called the attack a “senseless act” and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is trying to negotiate a peace accord with Israel, condemned it.

In Washington, the White House said President Bush called the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to express his sorrow over the incident.

The rampage turned a bustling commercial district into a scene of panic and confusion. Maria Stashevsky, a 19-year-old passenger on one of the rammed buses, said she didn’t know what was going on until the collision.

Three people were killed, including two women and a man, and 45 were injured, including two babies.

The mother of one of the babies hurled the child out of the car window to save her as the attacker bore down on their vehicle, and the mother was also injured.

The mother of the other baby, Batsheva Unterman, 33, was killed in the assault. Social workers appeared on TV frantically trying to locate the child’s father.

A second dead woman was identified as Elizabeth Goren-Friedman, 54, a dual Austrian-Israeli citizen who had lived in Israel for several years, the Austrian Foreign Ministry said. The third victim was a man.