EU condemns truck-ramming attack in Jerusalem

The European Union (EU) has condemned the truck-ramming attack in Jerusalem which killed four Israeli soldiers and injured 15 others.

"The EU condemns the murder of these four young Israelis, as well as any praise or incitement for terrorist acts," a spokesperson of the European External Action Service (EEAS), or the EU's diplomatic service, said in a statement on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.

"There can be no justification for such a crime," the spokesperson said, "the EU will continue to work with those who seek peace and denounce those who pursue violence and terror."

Palestinian media identified the perpetrator as Fadi al-Qanbar from East Jerusalem's Jabel Mukaber neighbourhood.

Israel's police spokeswoman Luba Samri said that the incident -- which took place in Armon Hanatziv, a popular promenade that overlooks East Jerusalem's Old City -- was a "terrorist attack," although the investigation has yet to be concluded.

On Saturday, the assailant drove his truck into pedestrians, killing four soldiers, three of them women, and wounding 15 more, Samri said.

The attack was one of the deadliest amidst a more than yearlong wave of violence. Last June, two gunmen killed four persons at a trendy recreation compound in Tel Aviv.

--IANS

pgh/