Asia-Pacific

Palestinian shot after entering Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-08-18 11:01

JERUSALEM - A Palestinian, possibly holding hostages at the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv, was reportedly shot and wounded by security guards on Tuesday afternoon.

After the man entered the embassy, gunshots were heard nearby. One of the embassy's window was broken by a bullet.

A police anti-terror team and emergency medical personnel arrived at the scene shortly afterwards. Hayarkon Street, the beach-front road where the embassy is located, was sealed off to traffic.

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Israeli police said he was holed up in the embassy and his condition is unknown, reported local news service Ynet.

The Israeli Magen David Adom (emergency rescue service) is negotiating with the embassy in order to let the wounded be released for medical treatment.

Israel Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told Xinhua that the event is being dealt with on the diplomatic level between the Turks and Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The suspect was identified as Nadim Injaz, a Palestinian from the West Bank town of Ramallah. He claimed to be a former informant of Israeli security forces, but local Channel 2 TV said he has no connection to Israeli army or police.

"I have taken over the hostages here. I'll burn everything, if they don't let me fly out of here, I'll burn everything in the embassy. I'll burn everything - I have a bomb - everything," Injaz told Channel 2 in a telephone conversation from the embassy just before the incident.

In 2006, he barricaded himself in the British embassy in Tel Aviv and claimed that Shin Bet, the Israeli security agency, was trying to kill him.