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At least 12 commuters are reported to have been injured this morning after a Palestinian terrorist boarded a Tel Aviv bus and stabbed his victims.

The attack took place on a number 40 bus, near the busy Maariv Bridge junction at around 7.30am local time. The assailant, a 22-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank city of Tulkarm, boarded the bus and soon into the journey attacked the driver, who struggled with the attacker but was seriously injured himself. The attacker continued to stab several bus passengers before fleeing the scene on foot.

Members of the Prison Service’s Nahshon Unit who by chance were escorting prisoners to court in a vehicle behind the bus chased and shot the attacker in the legs before apprehending him. Tel Aviv District Police Chief Bentzi Sau spoke to reporters at the scene and said that police know how the terrorist entered Israel and are working with the Shin Bet to ascertain whether he had any accomplices.

The injured victims were taken to three local hospitals. Latest reports indicate that 12 people were injured in the attack, six seriously. The area where the attack took place has been closed to traffic. Meanwhile, police have advised local residents to be vigilant.

Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich visited the injured at a Tel Aviv hospital and told reporters that it is “very, very hard to stop attacks like this” and that it was unclear whether the attacker was part of any wider “infrastructure.”

Meanwhile, Izzat al-Risheq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau described the attack as “a bold, heroic act and a natural response to the crimes of the occupation.”

In November, a similar stabbing attack took place at Tel Aviv’s Hagana Train Station, when IDF soldier Almog Shiloni was killed after being fatally stabbed by a Palestinian terrorist who attempted to grab Shiloni’s weapon.