'Screaming too mild a word'

2008-07-02 19:06

Jerusalem - Israeli bus driver Assaf Nadav never got a chance to tell the Palestinian at the wheel of a 20-tonne bulldozer to drive more carefully.

"I saw a bulldozer coming towards me and initially there was a small bang on the left side," Assaf said about the initial moments of an attack on Wednesday on Jerusalem's main Jaffa Road in which the bulldozer ploughed into vehicles and pedestrians.

"I opened the window to tell him to watch his driving. He looked me in the eye and drove towards the bus and then lifted it and turned it on its side," Assaf told reporters.

He said his number 13 commuter bus was full, and some of the passengers were standing. After it was flipped over, a policewoman broke the back window and people streamed out.

Asked to describe what it had been like inside the bus, Assaf replied: "Screaming would be too mild a word."

At least three people were killed in the attack. A civilian and a policeman shot the bulldozer driver dead.

- Reuters