Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian man on a bus near the central bus station in Jerusalem on 12 October after the man tried to grab a soldier's gun. The man first tried to grab a soldier's rifle and then succeeded in grabbing the pistol of a police officer attending the scene. The soldier and another passenger were slightly hurt. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the Palestinian was shot dead after managing to take the pistol of the police officer on the bus.

"A few moments ago an Arab terrorist that was on the bus stabbed a soldier, attempted to get hold of his gun. The police officers arrived at the scene, the terrorist was spotted with the pistol, possibly from either the police officers or, it is not exactly a hundred per cent sure yet. The terrorist was shot and killed on the bus," Rosenfeld said.

Four Israelis and 26 Palestinians, including eight alleged attackers and eight children, have died in 12 days of bloodshed, the worst spell of street violence for years, stirred in part by Muslim anger over increasing Jewish visits to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem.

Palestinian groups have called for a Day of Rage across the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem on 13 October and the leaders of Israel's Arab community have called for a commercial strike in their towns and villages. Some of Israel's Jewish residents have also taken to the streets, to protest against the attacks, and have demanded the government do more to restore security.

Earlier on 12 October, two Palestinian youths aged 13 and 15 stabbed two Israelis on the northern edge of Jerusalem, critically injuring one of them, the 13-year-old boy, police and hospital sources said. An hour earlier, a Palestinian girl of 16 from the same quarter of East Jerusalem as the Pisgat Zeev attackers stabbed and wounded a paramilitary border policeman in central Jerusalem.

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