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Palestinian drives into crowd, injures 15, police say

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  • The driver was shot and killed at the scene, officials said
  • The driver was identified by authorities as Palestinian
  • Two victims were seriously injured, authorities said
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JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Fifteen people -- mostly Israeli soldiers -- were injured at an intersection in Jerusalem Monday night when a driver plowed his car into a group of people, Jerusalem police told CNN.

A Palestinian plowed a BMW into a crowd in Jerusalem Monday night, injuring at least 20 people.

The driver was shot and killed at the scene by an Israeli soldier who was part of the group, police said. The driver of the black BMW was not immediately identified, but authorities said he was a young Palestinian from East Jerusalem's Jabal Mukaber neighborhood .

The incident happened about 11 p.m. at an intersection heavy with pedestrian traffic in centralJerusalem at a passing point between the western Jewish and eastern Arab sections of the city, at the northwestern edge the Old City and near the Jaffe Gate.

Authorities said two of the victims were seriously injured and 13 sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Investigators are treating the incident as a "terrorist attack," Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told CNN.

Ambulances and other emergency vehicles rushed to the scene as a large crowd converged on the area. The body of the driver remained on the street in plain view, CNN Correspondent Ben Wedeman reported. Video Watch video of the aftermath of the incident »

Wedeman said he saw several young Arab men chased away by Israeli police and soldiers.

"There's a real feeling of tension, of anger ... it's a very ugly atmosphere at the moment," he said.

The area was more crowded than usual with the approach of the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, and Muslims breaking their daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, he said.

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It's the third time since July that a vehicle has been used as a weapon in Jerusalem. In late July, a Palestinian man, also from east Jerusalem, went on an unexplained rampage in downtown, ramming a construction vehicle into cars and buses before he was shot and killed.

That attack happened three weeks after a Palestinian construction worker drove a bulldozer over several vehicles in Jerusalem, killing three before he was shot and killed.

CNN's Michal Toutian in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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