Palestinian opens fire in Israeli crowd, 4 wounded

Six people were wounded Thursday when a Palestinian man stabbed and shot at market-goers in central Israel, police said.

The attack in the city of Petah Tikva, outside Tel Aviv, was carried out by a Palestinian assailant, police said, calling it a "terrorist" incident.

Police said initial indications were the attacker, 19, was from the Nablus governorate in the north of the occupied West Bank.

The man was arrested uninjured while still carrying the gun, they added.

The wounded were taken to hospital, with none of their injuries described as life threatening.

The attack was reminiscent of a far bloodier one in June 2016 in which four people died during a shooting at a popular Tel Aviv market.

A police spokesman said in a video from the scene that the assailant opened fire seemingly at random before stopping and running away.

He was then pursued by civilians who succeeded in "neutralising" him.

"Police arrived very quickly and took his weapon from him," the spokesman said.

The Magen David Adom medical agency said in a statement it treated three people with bullet wounds and a man who was stabbed in his upper body.

An MDA medic described the scene upon arrival as "chaos," while a police video showed a bus with a single bullet hole in its windscreen.

The United Hatzalah medical group said another man was beaten by the crowd who had apparently mistaken him for the attacker.

Last month four Israeli soldiers died after being run over by a truck in Jerusalem.

Since a wave of violence broke out in October 2015, more than 250 Palestinians, 41 Israelis, two Americans, a Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have died.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities, with others were killed during protests, in clashes or Israeli air raids on Gaza.

The rate of attacks has declined significantly in recent months.

Source: AFP