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Palestinian Stabs 11 on Bus in Tel Aviv, Israel: Police

Palestinian man stabbed at least 11 people on a bus in Tel Aviv on Wednesday before he was shot and captured, authorities said.
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TEL AVIV, Israel — A Palestinian man stabbed 11 people on a bus in Tel Aviv on Wednesday before he was shot and captured, authorities said.

Passengers and the vehicle's driver were attacked before the assailant fled on foot.

Shlomo Machdad, who works at a nearby car shop, was one of the first people to arrive at the scene.

"I saw the bus stop in the main intersection near my office ... and wounded people running out of it," he told NBC News. "We did our best to help anyone we could. The wounded were scattered everywhere."

Eleven people were stabbed and three remain in critical condition, according to hospital officials.

Gabriel Bitton, a volunteer with emergency unit United Hatzalah, added: "The scene was terrifying and looked like a butcher shop."

The 23-year-old suspect from the West Bank city of Tulkarem was lightly wounded after being shot in the leg near the scene. He was subsequently captured by police and was being questioned.

Authorities heightened security and beefed up police units in and around Tel Aviv, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

The stabbing follows the type of "lone-wolf" Palestinian attacks that have plagued Israel in recent months, killing about a dozen people, including five people killed with guns and meat cleavers in a bloody assault on a Jerusalem synagogue.

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— Paul Goldman

The Associated Press contributed to this report.