Four dead in Israel stabbing, car-ramming, suspect shot by locals
- Reports said assailant was a Bedouin man who previously tried to join Islamic State
- Prime Minister Naftali Bennett promised to crack down on ‘terrorists’ after the attack
A man wielding a knife stabbed several people and ran over another in southern Israel on Tuesday, killing four, in one of the deadliest attacks in the country in recent years.
The assailant, who Israeli media have identified as a Bedouin man who previously tried to join Islamic State, was shot dead by armed locals following the attack in the southern city of Beersheba, police said.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett promised to crack down on “terrorists” following the bloodshed that began shortly after 4pm and unfolded at a petrol station and on a street outside a nearby shopping centre.
Liraz Zrihan, a 25-year-old who was washing her car at the petrol station when the rampage began, said she saw the attacker holding a long knife, “like a sword”, while spinning around and looking for people to stab.
According to police and the Magen David Adom emergency medical responders, the assailant stabbed one woman at the petrol station, used his car to run over a man in his sixties on a bicycle, and stabbed several others outside the shopping centre before he was shot.
Police have not officially identified the suspect.