ANT KATZ

After causing all the carnage, the driver then got out of his vehicle and began attacking people randomly with a metal rod before being shot and killed by police.

Palestinian Ma’an news agency identified the terrorist as 48-year-old Ibrahim al-Akary. Hamas’s Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades tweeted out pictures it said showed the man, who it called Akazi, one of which showed him lying on the ground after being shot.

RIGHT: Ibrahim al-Akary – the man Hamas this afternoon named as the attacker.

One of the wounded is a Border Police officer, according to the Minister of Internal Security Yitzhak Aharonovich.

The Islamic Jihad website also named the driver as Ibrahim al-Akary, from Shuafat, in East Jerusalem. He is reported to be the brother of one of the Palestinians released in the Gilad Shalit deal and deported abroad.

According to MDA rescue unit head Eli Bir, who was one of the first on the scene, the vehicle hit several pedestrians on Highway 1 at a bus stop on the corner of Shimon Hatzadik Street, then continued on to the next junction, at Moshe Zaks Street, where it ploughed into more pedestrians.

Multiple hospitals took on casualties as is usual in Israel. The trauma ward at Hadassah Hospital Ein Karem received one casualty in critical condition who later died and three patients in serious condition who are now being assessed.

Another four of the casualties were taken to Shaarei Zedek Hospital. Two are in critical condition and on life support.

Hamas calls for more violence

“We praise this heroic operation,” said Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum. “We call for more such … operations.”

This picture, courtesy of MDA, shows the carnage at 12:30 this afternoon

Aharonovich described the incident as “a road incident with a terrorist purpose … the second in the area of the light rail.”

He added that the police are widely deployed in Jerusalem, particularly in the “seam neighbourhoods” between the eastern and western parts of the city and the city centre.

RIGHT: This MDA-supplied picture gives a sense of the carnage two hours after the attack

“The action of the Border Police officer who chased after the assailant and quickly killed him was correct and professional and that is how we want these incidents to end.

“We will continue to protect Jerusalem, a sensitive city that is experiencing tough times, and this is unlikely to be the last such incident. It is impossible to prevent this sort of attack every time and in every place.

“We will return the quiet and peace to the residents of Jerusalem.”

“Abu Mazen [Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas] is the driver of the death car and the terrorists his emissaries,” Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said in response to the attack.

“Israel needs to say clearly that the Fatah-Hamas government is a terror organisation and we need to act accordingly.”

Tension in Jerusalem has been particularly high following the shooting of a rightwing activist last week and the police’s killing of the Palestinian man suspected of the crime.

Last month, two were killed and six other people were wounded when a Palestinian drove his car into a light rail train station near Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem and ran over passers-by disembarking from the train.

This is a developing story, watch SAJR Online for updates