AP Sources: US Not Sending Gitmo Detainees to Yemen - ABC News

In another challenge to President Barack Obama's efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, a ban on transferring detainees to Yemen has been effectively pushed back into place because of security concerns in the volatile Middle Eastern nation, administration officials say.

While Obama approved sending detainees back to Yemen nearly two years ago, his administration has yet to use that authority. And officials say deep concerns about the threat posed by a Yemeni-based al-Qaida offshoot have removed that option for the foreseeable future, although that could change if conditions improve. The officials described the stance on condition of anonymity without authority to speak on the record.

Obama insisted in his State of the Union address Tuesday that he will not relent in his determination to close Guantanamo before he leaves office, and the administration is working on agreements with third countries willing to take Yemenis who are clear to leave the U.S. prison in Cuba. Nearly two-thirds of the remaining 122 detainees are from Yemen, including 47 of the 54 who have been approved for transfer.

Yemen has been gripped by a violent power struggle, with Shiite rebels taking President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi prisoner in his own home this week. Yemen's state news agency reported late Wednesday that rebels reached a deal with the U.S.-backed Hadi to end the standoff, but questions remain about who really controls the country.

Meanwhile, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which Washington considers to be the group's most dangerous branch, has been thriving in Yemen amid the chaos. The group has claimed responsibility for the recent attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and failed assaults on the U.S. homeland. While U.S. officials have questioned how much control the group had of the Paris operation, the United States has long been waging drone strikes in Yemen to target the terrorist threat.

Republican senators introduced legislation last week, citing the Paris and other terrorist attacks, as a reason to legally reinstate a ban on Yemeni transfers among other restrictions on Guantanamo transfers during Obama's remaining two years in office.

"The last thing we should be doing is transferring detainees from Guantanamo to a country like Yemen," New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte said in a news conference to announce the bill. "We have not received assurances from the administration that they will not seek to transfer anyone to Yemen, despite the wild, wild West nature of what we're facing when it comes to terrorism in Yemen."

Administration officials say even if they will not send detainees to Yemen now, Obama will not officially reinstate the ban to maintain flexibility in case conditions improve. The officials say he does not want any further restrictions on his ability to close Guantanamo with so little time left to meet his goal of shuttering it.

Obama suspended transfers to Yemen in January 2010 after a Nigerian man attempted to blow up a U.S.-bound flight on Christmas Day 2009 with explosives hidden in his underwear on instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen. But in May 2013, the president announced a renewed effort to close the prison after being blocked by Congress in his first term.

"I am lifting the moratorium on detainee transfers to Yemen so we can review them on a case-by-case basis," Obama said in a speech at National Defense University.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Nine cars of freight train derail, no injuries or leaks - Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

Posted: 01/21/2015 9:43 PM | Comments:

Nine cars of a westbound Canadian National freight train derailed in downtown Winnipeg around 5 p.m. Wednesday, CN reported. 

The derailment took place behind the Federal Building, which is at the southeast corner of Main Street and William Stephenson Way. 

In a statement, CN said the cars remained upright and there were no leaks or injuries. It said the only loaded cars contained sand, and two derailed tank cars were empty. 

CN said the train originated in Winnipeg and was inspected before departure. CN initiated its initial response plan. 

The Winnipeg Police Service, Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service and the city's emergency preparedness co-ordinator arrived on-scene beginning at 5:12 p.m. They were clear from the scene by about 5:40 p.m. William Stephenson Way and Pioneer Avenue were closed for a short time but later reopened, the city reported. 

The cause of the derailment is under investigation.

— staff / The Canadian Press

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Transit tax pros and cons debated - Langley AdvanceNews

The Yes and No sides in the TransLink tax referendum debate clashed Tuesday night at the monthly Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce meeting.

Jordan Bateman, former Langley Township councillor, spoke for the No TransLink Tax campaign being organized by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Bill Tieleman of the Better Transit and Transportation Coalition spoke for the yes side.

Before they put on the gloves for a spirited verbal matchup, Mike Buda of the TransLink Mayors' Council talked about some of the specific plans for Langley transit improvements if the 0.5 per cent sales tax is approved.

New B-line buses are planned for 200th Street, Fraser Highway from Surrey to Langley City, and into Maple Ridge over the Golden Ears Bridge.

B-lines run as often as every 15 minutes, and they could be in place within two years or less of the referendum, Buda said.

Light rail extensions are planned in Surrey, including one down Fraser Highway into downtown Langley.

There would also be "significant" road upgrades, said Buda, including to busy 16th Avenue and Fraser Highway, and more road-rail grade separation overpasses. A 25 per cent increase in bus service would see more buses for neighbourhoods like Brookswood, Willoughby, and nearby areas such as Surrey's Clayton neighbourhood.

The debate between Tieleman and Bateman broke down to a couple of major issues – is the sales tax the right way to boost transit, and can TransLink be trusted with the money.

Tieleman talked about the huge population increase expected for the Langleys, about 125,000 more people.

"Are the Langleys read to handle all those people?" he asked.

Increases to everything from night buses to HandyDart are essential to moving people, he said.

"It's critical to our economy, it's critical to our environment, and it's critical to our quality of life," said Tieleman.

"A no vote is not an 'I want changes to TransLink' vote," Tieleman said.

Yet it was TransLink's track record, especially with money, that is the main reason to vote against the plan, said Bateman.

He is not anti-transit, he said, noting his own support for increases in transit while on Township council. But he slammed TransLink's management.

"TransLink wastes too much of your money to give them another nickel," he said, citing overpaid executives, strange spending such as a decorative poodle statue, and the fiasco of the behind-schedule and over-budget Compass card system.

The No TransLink Tax campaign is proposing an alternative method to raise the money, Bateman said. 

"Growth should pay for growth," he said.

Their plan is based on an annual 4.8 per cent annual increase in local government revenue across municipalities, TransLink, and Metro Vancouver. Taking 0.5 per cent of that growth would leave the cities with 4.3 per cent and not require a new tax, Bateman said.

Tieleman defended the plan for a sales tax.

"We're talking about a very modest amount of tax," he said. 

Studies from regions and cities in the United States that have implemented similar regional sales tax have shown only a modest impact on local retail sales.

That was a particular concern for the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce.

Bateman noted that Aldergrove could be particularly hard hit, close to both the U.S. border and Abbotsford, two areas where there won't be that extra tax. It will just give people another reason to head east to get gas, and maybe do their shopping as well, Bateman said.

"This will drive customers out of the region," he said.

He raised concerns that if estimates on project costs are too low, plans for light rail or other projects that would benefit Langley could easily be cut before projects in Vancouver.

Tieleman defended the plan, noting it came directly from the Mayors' Council, not TransLink management. It will be audited and the money will be set aside for the specific improvements in the plan, not going into TransLink general revenue.

He also pointed to the coalition supporting the plan, which includes businesses, unions, environmentalists, the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, and the Vancouver Board of Trade.

Since the plan emerged from the mayors, of whom 19 of 22 voted in favour, an audience member asked to hear from City Mayor Ted Schaffer and Township Mayor Jack Froese.

"Personally, I believe in it," said Schaffer.

He organized the mayors from South of the Fraser to band together to ensure that there would be sufficient improvements for the long-neglected region.

"At the end of the day, the Langleys will benefit, business will benefit," Schaffer said.

Froese addressed the other options – an increased gas tax, more property tax hikes, or a vehicle levy – all of which were rejected by the mayors.

He was doubtful about the idea of setting aside revenue growth from the region.

"As there's growth, more services are required," he said. He said he doesn't know where extra money would come from other than property taxes.

A mail-in vote on the sales tax plan is to be held among Metro Vancouver residents from March 16 to May 29.

© 2015 Langley Advance

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Leader of German anti-Muslim group PEGIDA brought down by Hitler photo - Haaretz

REUTERS – The leader of the fast-growing German anti-Muslim movement PEGIDA resigned on Wednesday after a photo of him posing as Hitler – and reports that he called refugees "scumbags" – prompted prosecutors to investigate him for inciting hatred.

The full text is available for subscribers & registered users.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ukraine: shelling 'kills 13' in Donetsk - Irish Times

Up to 13 people are reported to have been killed after a bus stop was hit by an artillery shell in the Ukranain city of Donetsk.

It is understood a bus was hit in the attack which happened as people were making their way to work in the rebel-held city.

Photographs posted to social media platform Twitter showed dead and injured people on the bus and lying on the street nearby.

"Twelve people were killed in the trolleybus and another who was in a car that was passing nearby," the Agence France Presse news agency reported a local official as saying.

A Ukrainian military spokesman said on Thursday Kiev government forces had withdrawn from the new terminal at Donetsk airport , territory over which they have fought fiercely with pro-Russian rebels for months.

"Yesterday the decision was taken to leave the territory of the terminal for new positions," Vladislav Seleznyov said.

The latest attack comes after Russia and Ukraine agreed to pull back heavy weaponry in eastern Ukraine behind an agreed demarcation line after high-level talks in Berlin.

Amid fresh clashes on Wednesday, foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia agreed the move following a meeting with their French and German counterparts.

German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said a truce remained elusive but spoke of "noticeable progress" after the talks at a government-owned villa near Berlin.

The agreement revives a crucial element of last September's ceasefire in Minsk, foreseeing a 15km artillery buffer zone on each side of the front line.

"Today we have finally agreed that the demarcation line mentioned in the Minsk agreement is the line from where the withdrawal of heavy weapons needs to take place now," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier late on Wednesday evening.

He warned that it was now up to the players in the region whether the deal "would remain printed paper (or) will also change the situation on the ground".

OSCE mediators will continue their work to ensure implementation of further provisions of the Minsk agreement before holding final peace talks in Kazakhstan's capital Astana.

Separately, Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, said that "strong support" for the pullback was an important outcome of the Berlin meeting.

But he added that foreign ministers in Berlin did not discuss the sanctions that the west has imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

"The sanctions are not our problem," he said. "It is the problem of those who introduced them and now do not know how to extricate themselves."

Ahead of the talks, Kiev, the United States and Nato accused Russia of continuing to send troops and heavy weaponry to support rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine president Petro Poroshenko cut short his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, accusing Moscow of sending into Ukrainian territory more than 9,000 ground troops, 500 tanks, heavy artillery and armed personnel carriers.

"If this is not aggression, what is?" he asked an audience in Davos, showing a shrapnel-scarred piece of a bus that was allegedly hit by rebel shelling this month, killing 13 passengers.

The audience applauded when Mr Poroshenko described what Russia should do to end a conflict that has killed more than 4,800 people and displaced about one million: "Stop supplying weapons. Stop supplying ammunition. Withdraw the troops and close the border. A very simple peace plan."

Mr Poroshenko's early departure from Davos came amid a new influx of Russian troops crossing into rebel-held parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Clashes continued around Donetsk airport on Wednesday, and heavy exchanges of artillery fire were reported at several other points close to the line demarcating government- and rebel-held territory according to a September "ceasefire" deal.

The combatants accuse each other of breaking the pact, and of firing shells into residential areas which kill and injure civilians almost every day.

In Brussels, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said Russia's military was moving "back and forth over the border" and now had "a high number of forces on the border".

Nato was now seeing "an increase in Russian equipment . . . tanks, artillery, armoured vehicles and advanced air defence systems," Mr Stoltenberg said.

In Kiev, the visiting commander of the US army in Europe, Ben Hodges, said it was "irrefutable that [the insurgents] are getting direct support from Russia".

"It is very clear from the capabilities that the proxies [rebels] have used against Ukrainian security forces, the type of artillery, modern equipment, the amount of ammunition," Lt Gen Hodges said, adding that some of the high-tech weaponry could only be operated by trained specialists, not a rag-tag militia.

Moscow denies such accusations, however, insisting that any Russians fighting in Ukraine are volunteers, and that all rebel weapons were seized from government forces and stocks.

"If you allege this so confidently, present the facts. But nobody can present the facts, or doesn't want to," Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow before flying to Berlin.

He insisted the militants would withdraw heavy weapons to areas stated in the September deal agreed in Minsk, but did not commit Russia to closing its border with rebel-held areas – a condition that Ukraine and the West say is crucial.

"Russia will do all it can to achieve an immediate ceasefire," he said.

"Western countries should urge the Ukrainian leadership not to allow recourse to military conflict. I hope common sense will prevail."

Earlier on Wednesday, German chancellor Angela Merkel played down suggestions that Wednesday night's four-way talks would pave the way for a summit of the countries' leaders.

"We don't want another meeting of presidents that yields no results," she said.

"I don't want to get hopes up too much . . . It is clear that the ceasefire is getting more and more fragile."

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Shia Houthi gunmen take over Yemen presidential palace - ABC Online

Posted January 21, 2015 18:45:37

Houthi fighters have battled guards at the Yemeni president's private home and entered his palace, raising the stakes in a turbulent campaign for more political power that has thrown the Arab state deeper into turmoil.

Speaking hours after his fighters' display of force, the Houthi militia leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi warned president Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi that he had to implement a power-sharing deal struck when the Shi'ite rebels seized the capital in September.

He said "all options" were open against Mr Hadi, whom he accused of supporting the "fragmentation" of the country.

"I here advise the president ... Implement this deal. It is for your benefit and for the benefit of your people," al-Houthi said.

In a long televised address, he also warned the UN Security Council that "you will not benefit from any measures you wish to take" against the Houthis.

"We are ready to face the consequences, regardless of what they are," he said.

Al-Houthi prizes the power-sharing accord because it grants his Shi'ite Muslim group participation in all military and civil state bodies.

"We ... will not hesitate to impose any necessary measures to implement the peace and partnership agreement," said al-Houthi, whose group is widely seen as an ally of Iran in its regional struggle for influence with Saudi Arabia.

Information minister Nadia Sakkaf said the militia had attacked the president's residence in western Sanaa on Tuesday, after witnesses reported clashes in the area.

Mr Hadi was earlier reported to have been in the building meeting with advisers and security officials.

A military official said the rebels had also seized the presidential palace in southern Sanaa, where Mr Hadi's offices are located, and were "looting its arms depots".

President Hadi — an ally of the West and staunch supporter of US drone attacks on Al Qaeda fighters in Yemen — has been also increasingly at odds with al-Houthi over a draft constitution intended to help end decades of conflict and underdevelopment.

The emergence of the Houthis as Yemen's de facto top power last September scrambled alliances and stirred tensions across Yemen's political spectrum, raising fears of deeper instability in a country with one of Al Qaeda's most active branches.

Tensions have been running high since Saturday, when the Houthis abducted president Hadi's chief of staff in an apparent move to extract changes to a draft constitution opposed by the militia.

In heavy fighting at the start of the week, militiamen and troops fought pitched battles near the palace and in other parts of Sanaa, leaving at least nine people dead and 67 wounded.

Gulf Arab foreign ministers were due to discuss the Yemeni crisis at an emergency meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh later on Wednesday.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the violence and called for order in the country.

The UN Security Council backed president Hadi as "the legitimate authority" and called on all parties and political actors in Yemen to stand with the government "to keep the country on track to stability and security".

While calling for a full ceasefire and a return to dialogue, the council did not threaten any sanctions.

Meanwhile, the US said it remained "firmly committed" to supporting Mr Hadi and his government and called for an "immediate cessation of hostilities", according to a State Department official.

UN special envoy Jamal Benomar told the council via videolink that the Houthi fighters had launched a "massive attack using heavy weapons" on the palace, a diplomat present at the closed meeting said.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said "all parties must step back immediately from conflict".

AFP/ Reuters

Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, yemen

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dalhousie dentistry whistleblower asks for suspension to be lifted - The Globe and Mail

One of the 13 Dalhousie University dentistry students at the centre of the misogynist Facebook group scandal spent more than four hours Tuesday night pleading his case before a disciplinary hearing, asking for his suspension to be lifted so he can graduate this spring.

Ryan Millet, 29, and his lawyer left through a side door of the dentistry building, avoiding reporters after the closed-door marathon session with the Faculty of Dentistry Academic Standards Class Committee (ASCC) that will rule on his suspension.

More Related to this Story

"Ryan is hopeful that we'll get some due process tonight," said his lawyer, Bruce MacIntosh, as the two walked into the hearing. Mr. MacIntosh said he wants Mr. Millet's suspension lifted and his reputation restored.

This is Mr. Millet's first appearance before any university administrative body, said his lawyer, noting that the university Senate met in secret Monday night for the second time in two weeks to discuss the case.

Mr. Millet is so far the only one of the group who has come forward publicly. In fact, he and his lawyer have both said that he is the student who blew the whistle on his classmates, putting a stop to the offensive posts after a poll was posted on the site asking which of the female classmates the men would like to have "hate" sex with.

It was too much for Mr. Millet – and he said he informed a female classmate, who then alerted the administration. He said he also quit the Facebook group, which had been operating since their first year.

He and his 12 colleagues, all members of the Class of DDS 2015 Gentlemen private Facebook group, were suspended from clinical activities. They cannot graduate until their suspensions are lifted.

The university has been struggling to deal with the fallout from the scandal since the story broke in mid-December. The offensive posts provoked protests from university staff and students demanding that the men be expelled. It also has sparked a debate about rape culture across the country.

But the university has shielded the names of all the students, citing privacy. However, dental regulatory bodies in Alberta, B.C., Ontario and Nova Scotia have said they will ensure that any of the male students from the Dalhousie 2015 class who apply for licences to practise will be scrutinized for "good character."

In addition to the suspension, the university administration delayed exams for the fourth-year students and separated the male and female students so they are not in classes together. It has also instituted a restorative justice process that has received criticism from student groups and some faculty members.

Mr. Millet, a father of three young children, who is originally from the American Midwest, is not participating in the restorative justice process. His lawyer, Mr. MacIntosh, does not believe that his client has been treated fairly – and for the past several days has been trying to carefully orchestrate select interviews with media outlets to get out Mr. Millet's story.

"To see something so targeted and violent and hateful against someone that you care about is something else," Mr. Millet said about the "hate" sex poll in an interview earlier this week with the Halifax Chronicle Herald. "That's not me. That's not what I'm about. And the people who know me would agree."

His classmates may face similar hearings, according to university spokesman Brian Leadbetter. "The university will continue to evaluate each of the men's individual cases through the [ASCC]," he wrote in an e-mail. "Much of the work under the policies involved is confidential, to ensure that we respect the privacy of all students involved."

Mr. MacIntosh, meanwhile, is critical of the way the university is handling the incident. He said his client has not received due process – and that the university has been writing the "rules as they've been going along."

More Related to this Story

Topics:

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

SIU reopens separate probes into two Brantford deaths in move called ... - National Post

For the second time in less than a week Tuesday, Ontario's provincial police watchdog reopened an investigation into a police-linked death in Brantford, a move one former head of the agency called "singular, and even exceptional."

On Jan. 20, 2009, Oakville's Benjamin Wood, 32, fell through the ice on the Grand River in Brantford after scuffling with the local police. He later died of hypothermia and drowning, according to the coroner.

The provincial Special Investigations Unit looked into the case at the time but found "no criminal liability" on behalf of the Brantford Police Service.

But on Tuesday, six years to the day after Wood died, the SIU announced it was restarting the probe based on "materially new information coming to light."

The decision to reopen an investigation is "very rare," according to Ian Scott, who led the SIU for five years ending in 2013. "The vast majority of the time, the investigations are completed, they're reviewed by the director and then a decision is made. And that's the end of it," Mr. Scott said.

Making this case even stranger is that the SIU reopened a separate police-linked death investigation in Brantford just last week.

'This is a once-in-a-lifetime situation. Just think about it, Brantford's just not that big'

In August 2010, Brantford Police Constable Adam Hill shot and killed 18-year-old Evan Jones in his own home. The SIU cleared Const. Hill at the time. But on Jan. 14, director Tony Loparco announced that "materially new information" had come to light in that case, too, prompting the agency to reopen the probe.

The SIU won't comment further while the new investigations are underway. A call to the Brantford police was not immediately returned Tuesday.

But Mr. Scott said the reopening of two different probes involving one small police force in a single week was "singular and even exceptional."

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime situation," he said. "Just think about it, Brantford's just not that big."

According to SIU records, the agency only investigated two police-involved deaths involving the Brantford Police Service between 2008-09 and 2012-13. Both of those are now being looked at again.

To reopen an investigation, Mr. Scott said, the SIU would need to see new evidence that could significantly affect the outcome of a case, such as a new witness, or new testimony from an old one. During his time at the agency, Mr. Scott reopened a handful of probes, including several involving officers at the G20 in Toronto.

According to the SIU's original summary of the Wood case, a Brantford police officer followed a set of shoe prints from a stolen car to the bank of the Grand River near the Brantford Casino in the early hours of a cold winter morning. He found Wood standing on the river and asked him to get off the ice. Wood approached the officer. The two fought and Wood ran back over the bank.

"Other officers responded and pleaded with Mr. Wood to get off the ice," the SIU said at the time. "Mr. Wood would not do so, but instead walked and then ran out into the centre of the ice-covered river. He fell through the ice and drowned."

In the case of Mr. Jones, according to the SIU's original investigation, police responded to a domestic dispute. They found the teen on his porch holding two knifes. When he went back inside and refused to drop the blades, an officer pepper-sprayed him. When Mr. Jones responded by tossing the knives, one after the other, in the officers' direction, Const. Hill shot him four times.

National Post

• Email: rwarnica@nationalpost.com | Twitter:

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Obama's State of the Union Leaves Couple 'Cautiously Optimistic' - NBCNews.com

HAVANA, Cuba — In homes all over Havana, people watched President Barack Obama's State of the Union Tuesday night, looking for any mention of their home country. They weren't disappointed.

Rafael Hernandez, 79, a retired bank manager and his wife Maritza Corrales, a historian and author, also in her 70s, watched the speech via TeleSur, a Latin American cable news network, which carried the annual presidential address in its entirety for the first time.

Obama in December announced plans to begin normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba. In his sixth State of the Union speech on Tuesday night,Obama said, "In Cuba, we are ending a policy that was long past its expiration date. When what you're doing doesn't work for fifty years, it's time to try something new."

Obama called on Congress to begin taking the necessary steps to end a longstanding trade embargo with Cuba. Hernandez said that move is essential to fostering economic freedoms that will lead to political freedoms in Cuba. "Unless the embargo is done, we can not really trade with the U.S. and the Americans can not invest in Cuba," he said.

Hernandez said Obama's proposals were also politically smart and "will help the U.S. with relations all over Latin America, where Cuba is respected."

Corrales has been waiting for better relations with the U.S. for decades. Unlike most Cubans, the historian travels to the U.S. often thanks to a special dispensation. She teaches seminars on the history of Judaism in Cuba around the world. She was encouraged by what she called Obama's positive tone when referring to Cuba. "It's a long history of distrust," Corrales said. "We need to overcome all that. We need to be good neighbors."

Critics here say the president's ideas are just that, ideas, and may never become reality, but Corrales said she has hope.

"I think Cubans are always hopeful, very optimistic," she said. "We always see the best side of things."

First published January 20 2015, 10:44 PM

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Israel bus attack: Tel Aviv passengers stabbed - BBC News

21 January 2015 Last updated at 08:27

Israeli police say they have shot a Palestinian man from the West Bank who stabbed at least 10 people in an attack on a bus in central Tel Aviv.

The incident occurred on Maariv bridge where the suspect attacked people both on and outside the bus, police said.

Police say they are treating the incident as a terrorist attack.

The perpetrator attempted to flee the scene following the attack, and was lightly wounded after being shot in the leg, a police spokeswoman said.

Three of the victims were in a serious condition, with four others in a moderate condition and three lightly wounded, according to the ambulance services.

Officers are patrolling the area to prevent further attacks, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on his Twitter account.

The street around Maariv bridge has been closed.

Police officials said that the suspect was a 23-year-old illegal worker from Tulkarem, a town in the occupied West Bank.

"The terrorist stabbed the bus driver several times but the driver fought back until he [the suspect] fled on foot and was neutralised by a guard from the prisons' service," a police statement said.

A prisons' service officer told army radio how the attack unfolded.

"We saw the bus swerve to the side... then stop at a green light," the officer, identified only as Benny, said.

"Suddenly we saw people running out of the bus and when we saw them shouting for help, we jumped out... and started running after the terrorist. At first we fired in the air, then at his legs."

Izzat Risheq, a senior official with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, praised the stabbing attack.

Speaking from Qatar, he described it as "a natural response to the crimes of the occupation and terrorism against the Palestinian people".

Israeli police say there has been a pattern established in recent months where individual Palestinians, without sophisticated weapons, have attacked civilians at random, the BBC's Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem reports.

Late last year, a number of Israelis were killed in attacks by Palestinians using weapons including knives and even vehicles to run down pedestrians.

Our correspondent says the latest round of tensions began to increase last year, after the summer conflict in Gaza and disputes over access to religious sites in the old city of Jerusalem.

More than 2,100 Palestinians were killed in Gaza during the Israel-Gaza conflict, the majority of them civilians according to the UN.

Sixty-seven Israeli soldiers, and six civilians in Israel, were also killed.

16.14 | 0 komentar | Read More