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U.S. condemns Israeli bus attack

Xinhua, January 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

The U.S. State Department condemned on Wednesday the Israeli bus attack which left at least 11 people wounded, urging Palestine and Israel to take steps to ease tension.

"We strongly condemn today's stabbings on a bus in Tel Aviv," said State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki at a regular news briefing. "There is and can be no justification for such attacks against innocent civilians."

The United States continues to urge all sides to work cooperatively together to lower tensions, reject violence and seek a path toward peace, Psaki said.

At least 11 people were injured in a stabbing attack on a crowded bus in the central coastal Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning. The incident was termed by the police as "a terror attack."

A police spokesperson said the assailant, a Palestinian youth from the West Bank city of Tulkarem, fled the scene on foot and was shot in the leg and detained by the police. Israeli rescue teams said at least four passengers were seriously wounded and three others moderately.

No Palestinian organization has claimed responsibility for the attack and the Israeli police suspect the assailant was acting individually.

Israel has witnessed in recent months a surge in violence due to the tension over access to al-Aqsa mosque compound, a holy place to both Muslims and Jews.

Last week, a 22-year-old Arab Bedouin was killed by the police during clashes in the southern town of Rahat, sparking clashes and anger among the Arab population in Israel. Endite