John
08-18-2010, 07:36 AM
A Palestinian man known to Israeli police has been shot and wounded by Turkish embassy security guards after breaking into the building in Tel Aviv and taking hostages.
The man was subdued and Turkish diplomats questioned him for more than four hours before he limped out of the embassy handcuffed and accompanied by Turkish embassy staff members, an Israeli policeman and a paramedic.
An ambulance then evacuated him to hospital.
An Israeli Arab lawyer who spoke to the man by phone to try to calm him down said the Palestinian had held hostage the Turkish consul-general and his wife for some two hours.
They managed to escape after Turkish security officers shot and wounded the Palestinian, who was armed with a gun and a knife. Israeli officials declined to confirm the hostage-taking account.
The incident appears to be unrelated to a deterioration in relations between Israel and Turkey following a deadly Israeli commando raid on May 31 on a Turkish-led aid flotilla bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Israeli television Channel 2 played a voice recording of the man, named as Nadim Injas, in which he said he would destroy the embassy unless he was given asylum in Turkey. He said he had weapons, explosives and gasoline.
The man was subdued and Turkish diplomats questioned him for more than four hours before he limped out of the embassy handcuffed and accompanied by Turkish embassy staff members, an Israeli policeman and a paramedic.
An ambulance then evacuated him to hospital.
An Israeli Arab lawyer who spoke to the man by phone to try to calm him down said the Palestinian had held hostage the Turkish consul-general and his wife for some two hours.
They managed to escape after Turkish security officers shot and wounded the Palestinian, who was armed with a gun and a knife. Israeli officials declined to confirm the hostage-taking account.
The incident appears to be unrelated to a deterioration in relations between Israel and Turkey following a deadly Israeli commando raid on May 31 on a Turkish-led aid flotilla bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Israeli television Channel 2 played a voice recording of the man, named as Nadim Injas, in which he said he would destroy the embassy unless he was given asylum in Turkey. He said he had weapons, explosives and gasoline.