The brazen attack has sparked a frantic search for the terrorist accomplice.
By Gil Tanenbaum, TPS
A terrorist opened fire on innocent people at a bus stop at major highway intersection in central Israel Friday afternoon, wounding five people, including one soldier. The attack occurred at the Bne Re’em Intersection, also known to Israelis by its Arabic name “Masmiah.”
While at this time the authorities will only confirm that the terrorist was “stopped” when he was shot by a soldier who was at the scene of the attack, a TPS photographer took video footage from the scene of the attack showing the terrorist lying dead in front of the bus stop.
The soldier who shot the terrorist was reported to have been lightly wounded.
Five of the victims were treated and evacuated by Magen David Adom (MDA) medics.
Four of those evacuated were sent to Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot. These included a 65-year-old woman is in moderate condition, a 20-year-old man in serious condition, a 16-year-old boy in serious condition, and a 65-year-old man in serious condition.
A 20-year-old man is in critical condition while CPR is being performed,
The fourth victim was in serious condition and was sent to Assuta Hospital in Ashdod.
MDA reported that three of the victims had “significant upper body injuries.”
Large police forces are searching for a suspected accomplice who brought the terrorist to the scene.
The Bne Re’em Intersection is located north of Be’er Sheva, where the highway from that city meets a junction where travelers can either turn east toward Jerusalem or continue north to Tel Aviv. It is heavily trafficked, and is especially busy on a Friday afternoon as people travel for Shabbat.
Nachum David, deputy director of the Lachish area (scene of the attack) of MDA, said: “We quickly arrived at the scene with large forces, the sight was very difficult, we saw gunshot wounds lying down with some of them unconscious, we immediately performed a first aid for the wounded, a young man about 20 years old was unconscious without a pulse and not breathing with gunshot wounds, we gave him life-saving treatment, we tried to fight for His life and we evacuated him to the hospital during CPR operations, another young man about 20 years old was unconscious and a boy about 16 years old and a man about 65 years old were conscious and suffered from penetrating and severe injuries.
A woman about 65 years old was in moderate condition, a man about 52 years old who managed to escape from the scene called us near the nearby settlement of Yad Binyamin, We got to him quickly, he was conscious and suffered from a penetrating injury to his body and we also evacuated him to the hospital where his condition is moderate and stable”
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