Jerusalem - An East Jerusalem Palestinian rammed his car into a crowd of soldiers late Monday at a Jerusalem intersection, injuring at least 17 people before being shot dead, in the city's third such vehicle attack since July, paramedics and police said.

Most of the wounded were soldiers from the artillery corps who were on a tour of Jerusalem ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, which begin next week. Most of the wounded suffered minor to moderate injuries; one victim was described as moderately to seriously injured.

The driver of the vehicle was shot and killed by an army officer accompanying the group. Jerusalem Police Chief Aharon Franko said the driver, apparently a Palestinian resident of Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, had acted without accomplices.

He said there had been no advance intelligence that the attack was imminent but noted that the city was under heavy security because of the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadan and next week's two-day Jewish New Year festival.

According to reports from the scene, the black BMW mounted a pavement shortly before 11 pm local time (2000 GMT) and ploughed into the group of soldiers, who were waiting to cross the road near the Old City's Jaffa Gate, before coming to a halt against a wall.

Police who quickly arrived on the scene checked the driver's body to see if he had been carrying explosive devices.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, some of the crowd that gathered at the scene chased Palestinian passers-by, pelting a few with bottles or stones. No injuries were reported, and mounted police dispersed the demonstrators.

After the attack, Defence Minister Ehud Barak called for expedited procedures that would allow Israel to demolish the homes of perpetrators of such attacks, in order to deter future incidents.

No known Palestinian group claimed responsibility for the incident, and it is unclear how the attack will affect a three-month- old truce between Israel and Palestinian militant groups.

Although the ceasefire focuses only on the Gaza Strip, Palestinians have been demanding that it be extended to the West Bank, where Israel carries out "search and arrest" raids and Palestinians engage in low-tech attacks, such as one Monday afternoon in which a Palestinian woman threw acid in the face of a soldier, who lost his sight in one eye.

Monday night's incident was the third attack since July involving a vehicle in Jerusalem.

On July 2, three people were killed when an East Jerusalem Palestinian took a bulldozer from a building site and went on a rampage through one of west Jerusalem's main streets.

On July 22, 16 people were injured when another Palestinian from East Jerusalem construction worker in a bulldozer drove into traffic in central Jerusalem.

Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and incorporated it into West Jerusalem's municipal boundaries shortly afterward.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state, and its fate is one of the core issues of the ongoing Israeli- Palestinian peace talks. (dpa)