Afrasianet - Israeli police say they have shot an attacker who stabbed at least nine people on a bus in central Tel Aviv.

The stabbing incident occurred on the Maariv bridge, police said, adding that the stabbings took place both in and outside the bus.

At least two of the victims were in a critical condition, media reports said.

The perpetrator attempted to flee the scene following the attack, and was lightly wounded after being shot in the leg, a police spokeswoman said.

Police were treating the incident as a suspected "terror attack", police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on his Twitter account.

Officers were patrolling the area to prevent further attacks, he added.

The street around the Maariv bridge has been closed.

In November, an Israeli soldier was killed in a knife attack in Tel Aviv, while an Israeli woman was stabbed to death in the occupied West Bank in a separate attack.

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