Israeli police arrest 9 following Palestinian truck attack
JERUSALEM — Israeli police stepped up security measures in Arab neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem on Monday, searching trucks and arresting relatives of the Palestinian truck driver who rammed his vehicle into a crowd of Israeli soldiers at a Jerusalem tourist spot the previous day, killing four soldiers and injuring 17 others.
Nine people were arrested, five of them relatives of 28-year-old Fadi Qunbar, the attacker. All arrested were from the Jabel Mukaber neighbourhood of east Jerusalem where Qunbar lived, police said.
Police forces checked drivers and searched parked cars and trucks throughout east Jerusalem in an effort to prevent copycat attacks, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
An investigation is underway as to how Qunbar managed to make his way on Sunday to the Jerusalem promenade where the soldiers gathered; who owned the truck he drove and whether he planned his attack ahead of time, Rosenfeld said.