Border guard hit, wounded by stolen car at Jerusalem checkpoint

Officer in moderate condition; vehicle found abandoned nearby as troops search for the driver; no terror motive suspected

A border police officer was moderately injured on Tuesday when he was hit by a stolen car that tried to force its way through a checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The vehicle went through the roadblock south of Jerusalem at high speed, hitting the officer. The vehicle was found abandoned a short time later and troops were searching for the driver.

Authorities believe that the incident was criminal and not a car-ramming attack, which have been frequent and sometimes deadly in the West Bank.

There is a large underground car market that sees vehicles stolen in Israel or deemed unfit for the roads there transported into the West Bank.