A terrorist stabbed several people at a major Haifa transit hub Monday, killing a man in his 60s and injuring at least four others, authorities said.
The knife attack at the northern city’s Lev Hamifratz bus station was the latest in a string of terror attacks targeting public transportation in Israel, after a ramming attack at a bus stop on Thursday and a series of botched bus bombings near Tel Aviv a week earlier.
The assailant, identified by police as an Israeli citizen from the Druze community, was shot and killed by a bus station security guard and an armed passerby.
According to police, the assailant stabbed a man in his 60s in the back several times, killing him. Four others were wounded, including a 15-year-old boy rushed to Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.
The hospital said the teen was stable after undergoing emergency surgery.
Three others, including a woman in her 70s and a man and woman in their 30s, were hospitalized with moderate wounds, health officials said.
Police said the assailant was a Druze citizen of Israel from Shfar’am, who returned to Israel a week ago after spending several months abroad.
Hebrew outlets named the attacker as Yitro Shahin, a man in his 20s. Unconfirmed reports claimed he held German citizenship.
An eyewitness told the Walla outlet that the stabber got off a bus from Shfar’am that pulled into the station, shouted “Allahu Akbar” and began stabbing those around him.
Israel Police chief Daniel Levy said forces were working to verify that the attacker had acted alone.
Reports said that police raided the home of the suspected assailant and were questioning his family. It was unclear if he had a criminal record.
Shfar’am Mayor Nahad Hazem told the Kan public broadcaster that two of those injured were from his city, one of them a relative of his own office director.
“It is a heinous crime, and I completely condemn it,” Hazem said.
MK Hamed Amar, a Druze lawmaker from the right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party said the attack did not represent the Druze community in Israel, which is largely integrated into society.
He described the suspected assailant as a “terrorist with German citizenship who was born and lived in Germany.”
“Such an act of terrorism is contrary to every moral and human value and certainly does not reflect the loyal spirit of the Druze community in Israel, which is a full partner in defending the state and its values,” said Amar, who hails from Shfaram.
Acting National Security Minister Haim Katz held a situation assessment after the attack, which occurred at a central transit hub for buses and trains linking northern Israel to Tel Aviv.
“The days ahead are challenging,” Katz said in a statement. He said police and emergency services are on “high readiness” and urged the public to be alert for any potential dangers.
The stabbing came after a car-ramming attack Thursday at a bus stop at Karkur Junction outside the city of Pardes Hanna that injured 13 people, including a teen hospitalized in critical condition.
The suspect in that attack, identified as a Palestinian from the Jenin area of the West Bank who was living in Israel illegally with his Arab Israeli wife, was shot and killed while attempting to stab police officers after fleeing the scene, police said at the time.
The Karkur Junction attack came a week after three empty buses exploded in quick succession in parking lots in the Tel Aviv suburbs of Bat Yam and Holon, followed by the discovery of two more unexploded devices on additional buses, in what appeared to be a botched terror attack. No casualties were reported as a result of the explosions.