Foreign attacker killed after stabbing five in Tel Aviv

A foreign attacker stabbed five people in Tel Aviv on Tuesday before being shot dead, Israeli authorities said.

The stabbing happened in a bustling nightlife spot of Israel's commercial capital, which an AFP photographer saw cordoned off by police.

"A terrorist with a knife started stabbing people on Nahalat Binyamin Street, wounding four civilians" before hurting a fifth person nearby, police said.

Police identified the attacker as a 28-year-old foreigner who was shot by security forces.

The AFP photographer saw the dead body of a man on the street.

Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital said it had received three stabbing victims, including one in "a serious condition with a knife wound to the neck" who was taken into surgery.

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel said the attacker was interrogated on arrival at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport and was cleared to enter the country.

He pressed the head of the Shin Bet internal security agency, Ronen Bar, to "investigate this serious incident and learn lessons as soon as possible."

The Shin Bet said the attacker was interrogated and subjected to "additional tests."

"It was decided that there was no information establishing grounds to prevent his entry into Israel for security reasons," the agency said, saying it would probe the matter.

Without claiming responsibility, Palestinian militant group Hamas in a statement praised the attack as a "heroic stabbing operation" that showed resistance to Israel was "increasing."

It was the second stabbing in Tel Aviv in four days, after another assailant seriously wounded a person on Saturday before being shot by an armed civilian.
 
AFP