[WATCH] Truck rams in group of soldiers in Jerusalem, four killed

Four Israeli officer cadets were killed in Jerusalam and a dozen wounded when a Palestinian attacker driving a truck ploughed into them deliberately in what has been described as a terrorist attack by the country's police.

"It is a terrorist attack, a ramming attack," a police spokeswoman said on Israel Radio.

Police said the dead, three women and one man, were all in their twenties. Among the wounded, three were described as in a serious condition.

According to police, the motorist increased speed and rammed the truck into a group of people while they were descending from a bus. The driver then reversed over his victims, trapping at least ten people under the truck, before being shot dead by soldiers who fired at least 18 rounds in the truck's cab.

Police later identified the driver as a Palestinian from Jabel Mukaber, an nearby area of Israeli-occupied east Jerusalem not far from the scene of the attack. Some media reports suggested Israeli licence plates on the vehicle meant it had been stolen.

The driver was shot dead by other soldiers and a tour guide with the group that was hit as the driver reversed back towards the dead and injured.

Graphic security camera footage shot from a distance showed the truck racing towards a group of soldiers standing by their bus and then driving through the group, scattering bodies. After a gap of a few seconds the truck is seen reversing into them again.

Arab #terrorist truck attack, #Jerusalem. 3 IDF dead, 1 IDF critical, 6 serious, 15 light. Soldiers from officers course from Gedud Erez. pic.twitter.com/VOqU2T7k2M

— Israel News Online (@IsraelNewsOrg) January 8, 2017

Speaking to the press minutes after the attack, Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich, identified the attacker as a resident of east Jerusalem, explaining how the apparently Arab perpetrator had an Israeli driver's licence and was driving a car with an Israeli licence plate, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Palestinian security officials said the truck driver was a Palestinian from the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal Mukaber, close to the scene, reports said. 

“In a fraction of a second during which I was speaking with one of the officers, I saw the truck plowing into us,” the guide, Eitan Rod, told Israel Army Radio.

“After a few rolls on the grass I saw the truck start to reverse and then I already understood that this was not an accident. I felt that my pistol was still on me, so I ran up to him and started emptying my clip. He went in reverse and again drove over the injured.”

As emergency workers removed the bodies from the scene, dozens of other young soldiers, some visibly shaken, were gathered on a park terrace where officers, paramedics and a military rabbi comforted them.

The incident occurred in Jerusalem on a popular promenade overlooking the walled Old City of Jerusalem.

Leah Schreiber, a witness, was leading a group of new soldiers on an orientation tour, taking them to a promenade overlooking the city when the attack happened.

“I was with a group of soldiers when a terrorist attacker drove into the solders,” she said. “People shouted ‘What’s happening’ and he reversed the truck.”

“I heard shouting and then shooting. I looked behind and saw the truck had driven on to the sidewalk hitting the soldiers.

“It took a few seconds to understand what was happening. Some soldiers had been told to hide in case of a second attack, while others were shooting the chauffeur.”

Other eyewitnesses who arrived quickly on the scene described coming across one body under the truck’s wheels and two others beside it while the driver was slumped dead behind a windscreen hit by a dozen of bullets.

Roni Alsheich, the national police chief, told reporters he could not rule out the driver of the truck having been motivated by a similar attackon a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people last month.

“It is certainly possible to be influenced by watching TV, but it is difficult to get into the head of every individual to determine what prompted him, but there is no doubt that these things do have an effect,” Alsheich told reporters.

A wave of Palestinian street attacks, including vehicle rammings, has largely slowed but not stopped completely since October 2015. Assaults over the past 15 months have killed at least 37 Israelis and two visiting US citizens.