Bystander beaten by mob

Most of the attacks have been in Jerusalem where security has been tightened. Photo / AP

An African man shot by an Israeli guard who mistook him for an assailant was then kicked by a mob as he lay bleeding before he died, according to a video posted yesterday amid a wave of violence that has left the nation on edge.

While images of the growing Arab-Israeli tensions have dominated for weeks - Israeli soldiers in residential streets, Palestinians facing checkpoints and searches - the video from Monday's assault offered a vivid tableau of Israeli anger and frustration at the inability to quell the violence.

It also appeared to display the increasing hard-line reactions from Israeli security forces and guards, whose tactics have drawn harsh criticism - especially from Palestinians - that Israel is using excessive force instead of trying to apprehend suspects.

Since the start of October, eight Israelis have been killed by Palestinians in nearly 30 attacks that have raised fears that a wider Palestinian uprising could be looming. At least 18 of the assailants were shot and killed on the spot by police, soldiers or security guards.

The Israeli police launched an investigation into what local media described as a "lynching" on Monday against an innocent man - shot amid the chaos of an attack that left an Israeli soldier dead.

"No one should take the law into their own hands," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He added that police were examining security tapes in attempts to identify those who assaulted the wounded man at a bus station in the southern city of Beersheba.

In the attack, an Israeli Bedouin Arab attacker killed a 19-year-old soldier, Omri Levy, whose military rifle was taken and used by the assailant. A second victim, police said, was an Eritrean asylum seeker shot by a security guard who mistakenly believed he was a second attacker.

In an apparent reflection of soaring tensions after weeks of violence and bloodshed in Israel, the wounded Eritrean was kicked and beaten by an Israeli mob as he lay bleeding. A few people dropped a line of bus station seats on the man. Others placed a chair above him as crowds closed in.

The attack, in the Negev desert city's central bus station during rush hour, follows more than two weeks of daily attacks by Palestinians against Israelis that has left the country shaken and suspicious.

Israel's Internal Security Agency identified the Beersheba attacker as Mohind al-Okbi, 21, a resident of a nearby Bedouin town. Some Bedouins in Israel serve as trackers in the Israeli military but many identify with the Palestinians, sharing the same religion, language and other cultural traits.

According to Israeli security services, most of the attacks were carried out by solo assailants not related to any militant Palestinian factions. Many of the attackers were teenagers and the majority have taken place in Jerusalem.