Mob attacks and kills man mistakenly identified as Israel bus station attacker 'because of his skin colour'

Attack: Israeli police stand by the shrouded body of the Beersheba bus station shooter. An innocent Eritrean man was gunned down and killed in the midst of the violence
Tsafrir Abayov/AP
Ramzy Alwakeel19 October 2015

An innocent man was shot dead at an Israeli bus station after a guard and a group of bystanders mistook him for a gunman “because of his skin colour”.

It came in the immediate aftermath of a deadly attack on a young Israeli soldier, who was gunned down by an Arab assailant at the Beersheba transport hub.

A security guard opened fire on the innocent man, Mulu Habtom Zerhom, thinking he was responsible for the earlier killing.

Others, including an Israeli officer, tried to protect him as a mob attacked him, leaving him with multiple gunshot wounds and kicking him as he lay on the ground.

He died in hospital soon afterwards.

Israel’s foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said: “It’s terrible. It shows you what a terrible situation we are in.”

Israeli daily newspaper Yediot Ahronot alleged Mr Zerhom had been mixed up with the gunman “because of his skin colour”.

The last few weeks have seen a spate of apparent lone-wolf attacks by Palestinians on Israeli targets. Forty-one Arabs, half of them said to have been attackers, have died along with nine Israelis and now Eritrean Mr Zerhom.

Police now want to track down the people who attacked Mr Zerhom, who was in Beersheba to renew a visa.

Meanwhile the bus station attacker has been named as Mohannad al-Okbi, 21, from Hura in southern Israel.

He was shot and killed during the attack, and security officers have arrested one of his relatives.

Additional reporting by Press Association

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