"Terror attack" in West Bank probably hit-and-run accident

The Palestinian driver who struck three Israel Defense Forces soldiers in the West Bank Wednesday night probably did so in a road accident, not as a terror attack believed by the Israeli authorities, a security official said on Thursday.

"Initial investigation of the Palestinian youth who turned himself in today, suggests the incident was a hit-and-run accident and not a vehicular terror attack," the official said in a text message sent to Xinhua.

Late on Wednesday night, a van drove by 23-year-old Hamam Masalmeh hit a group of Israeli soldiers outside el-Arub, a Palestinian refugee camp between Bethlehem and Hebron. Three soldiers were injured, one of whom severely.

Masalmeh turned himself in to the Etzion District Coordinating Office on Thursday, after an all-night manhunt by the Israeli army and Israel's Security Services.

Israel Times reported that during the investigation, Mesalmeh said he lost control of the van and panicked when he realized he had hit Israeli soldiers and fled the scene.

The incident came at time of mounting tensions between Jews and Arab, and a few hours after an east Jerusalem Palestinian rammed his van into pedestrians, killing one Border Police officer and injuring 13 others before being shot dead by Israeli police.

Tensions have been soaring in Jerusalem since July, when 16- year-old Mohammed Abu Khedir was kidnapped and burned alive by Jewish extremists. Clashes have emerged on a daily basis in the city between Palestinian youths and police, with some protests spilling over to other West Bank cities including Kalandia and Hebron. Enditem