Purim Attack: Shin Bet interrogates family of east Jerusalem terrorist

The suspect has been identified by authorities as Mohammed Mahmoud Abdel Razek Salaima.

By YASSER OKBI/ MAARIV HASHAVUA
The suspect in the car ramming attack in Jerusalem, March 6 (photo credit: TWITTER)
The suspect in the car ramming attack in Jerusalem, March 6
(photo credit: TWITTER)
The east Jerusalem terrorist who rammed his car into a crowd of Border Policewomen on Shimon Hatzadik Street in the capital on Friday has been identified by authorities as Mohammed Mahmoud Abdel Razek Salaima.
Salaima is a 22-year-old resident of the Palestinian neighborhood of Ras al-Amud.
The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) detained Salaima’s father and siblings, who are now being questioned in a Jerusalem police station. It remains unclear whether Salaima is affiliated with any particular Palestinian faction.
What is known is that Salaima has a criminal record. He is now hospitalized in critical condition at a Jerusalem hospital after he was shot by a police officer at the scene of the attack.
An initial investigation revealed that Salaima drove his car in the direction of Zax Junction in downtown Jerusalem. Soon afterwards, he drove his vehicle onto the sidewalk and ran over five pedestrians, four of them security officers.
Salaima is then alleged to have emerged from his car with a butcher’s knife, trying unsuccessfully to stab a number of passersby. It was at this point that he was shot by an armed policeman nearby.