Recently in Vehicular jihad Category

"An Afghan interpreter hijacked a pick-up truck from a soldier and drove it at a group of US Marines on the airfield tarmac, before it crashed and burst into flames."

More on this story. "Security breach overshadows Karzai-Panetta talks," by Dan De Luce for Agence France-Presse, March 14:

An Afghan died Thursday after trying to ram a truck into US Marines waiting to greet the Pentagon chief in an unprecedented security breach overshadowing what was billed as a fence-mending visit.

The still puzzling incident, which American officials took 10 hours to confirm, took place as Leon Panetta flew into the high security Camp Bastion base in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday ahead of talks with Afghan leaders.

Panetta sought to downplay the incident, following talks with President Hamid Karzai billed as a chance to calm anger over a US soldier allegedly killing 16 villagers on Sunday and copies of the Koran being burnt last month.

"I have absolutely no reason to believe that this was directed at me," he told a press conference, but added: "This is a war area" and "we're going to get these kind of incidents".

Separate bomb attacks killed at least 15 Afghans in the south during his two-day visit -- eight civilians in Helmand and a policeman in Kandahar on Wednesday and six civilians in a roadside bomb in Uruzgan on Thursday.

Military officials have dripped out confused details of the attempted airport attack, claiming first that there was no link to Panetta's arrival and then confirming that the target was indeed his US Marine welcoming committee.

The incident is likely to heighten concerns about a surge in attacks on Western troops carried out by Afghans being trained to take over security in the war-torn country when US and NATO allies pull out in 2014.

According to US officials, an Afghan interpreter hijacked a pick-up truck from a soldier and drove it at a group of US Marines on the airfield tarmac, before it crashed and burst into flames.

The Marines he tried to run over "were assembled to meet the secretary of defence's plane", a military official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

General Mike Scaparrotti said earlier that he believed the Afghan "had the intent to harm" but sought to downplay any threat to Panetta.

There is "no way you can identify one aircraft from the other," he said.

The Afghan, who was engulfed in flames after crashing the vehicle, had a container of fuel in the car and Scaparrotti said he died early Thursday, but that there had been no explosives in the vehicle or strapped to the man.

A British soldier was injured "in the course of the theft" of the vehicle, the military official said, without giving details.

In a later twist, a senior defence official said a military dog helped in the "pursuit" and "restraint" of the Afghan and suffered minor burns....

Reed S. Berry's ideological affiliation is never explicitly stated, but it is noteworthy that he was under 24-hour surveillance leading up to the 9/11 anniversary, and also reportedly barred from air travel. It could be a coincidence, but that's also quite the Sunnah beard he's sporting ("trim closely the moustache and grow [the] beard," Sahih Muslim 2.500). "Terror suspect accused of trying to hit FBI agent," by David N. Goodman for the Associated Press, October 2:

DETROIT -- A federal judge in Michigan has ordered a man suspected of supporting terrorist groups held on allegations he tried to crash into the car of an FBI agent who was following him as part of heightened security for the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Reed S. Berry, 26, of St. Joseph was under surveillance because of his suspected terrorist links, according to an FBI affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.

The government has said the links include Internet communication with one or more groups involved in international terrorism.

Defense lawyer Elias Muawad said what the government has labeled terrorist links in court filings appear to be online speech protected by the First Amendment. He also said his client, Berry, has been upset about being under investigation for months, subject to searches and barred from air travel.

"He was feeling like a caged person," Muawad told The Associated Press on Sunday.

According to the Sept. 23 complaint that charged Berry with assaulting a federal officer, the FBI executed a search warrant March 9 seeking evidence linking Berry to foreign terrorist groups.

"The FBI investigation to date has developed information that Berry was using the Internet both to contact and to provide affirmative support to one or more FTOs," or foreign terrorist organizations, the complaint said.

The FBI then got a warrant May 11 to search Berry's Yahoo email account, and investigators now are reviewing its contents, the complaint said.

In anticipation of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, "the FBI decided to maintain around-the-clock knowledge of Berry's whereabouts that weekend," the complaint said.

FBI Special Agent Samuel Moore and Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Larry Dyksterhouse were watching Berry the night of Sept. 9 and had been told that their "target" was aware he was under surveillance, the complaint said.

The agents followed Berry as he drove around Benton Harbor and St. Joseph. They said he traveled to various locations and at one point turned his headlights off and just sat in the vehicle.

Moore said Berry eventually put his car in reverse and began speeding toward Moore's stopped vehicle. The agent said he "immediately accelerated forward and to the hard left, avoiding a direct collision" with Berry.

On Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Hugh Brenneman in Grand Rapids ordered Berry detained before the assault trial.

"In addition to the present offense, defendant is well aware the FBI is using considerable resources to investigate whether defendant has been participating in terrorist-related activities," Brenneman wrote in his order that Berry stay behind bars until trial.

Brenneman also cited the fact that Berry has a wife in London and "has told the FBI he wants to leave this country and never return." And, the judge said, Berry's state criminal record shows "a repeated disregard of the judicial system" with bond and parole revocations....

"Allah is greatest," he shouted. Sure, nothing shows the world your utter moral superiority like ramming people with your cab and then stabbing them. "Israeli police: 7 wounded in Palestinian attack," from the Associated Press, August 28:

JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian attacker wounded seven Israelis near a Tel Aviv nightclub early Monday, hitting a police checkpoint with a stolen taxi and then stabbing others, police said.

The attacker was a Palestinian in his twenties from the city of Nablus, according to Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri.

Just before 2 a.m., the attacker stole a taxi in south Tel Aviv and then drove into a police checkpoint securing the street near a popular nightclub, she said.

He then got out of the car and stabbed passers-by, she said, while shouting "Allahu akbar" — Arabic for "God is great," a phrase often used as a battle-cry by Islamic militants.

The wounded included four policemen and three civilians, Samri said.

The attacker was arrested. He was injured and was taken to a hospital.

No further details were immediately available.

Such attacks inside Israel, once common, have fallen off in recent years as Israeli and Palestinian forces have restored security in the adjacent Palestinian territory of the West Bank. But some violence has continued. One Israeli was killed in a similar attack with a vehicle in Tel Aviv in May.

New York City cabdriver Mohammed Azam ran over two of his passengers for no apparent reason. Another cabbie, Hassan Daly, who was described as a "devout Muslim," plowed his cab into a crowd on a sidewalk in San Diego, injuring over 24 people. Mohammed Reza Taheri-Azar explicitly grounded his hit-and-run in the teachings of the Koran. Munir Muthana told the police who arrested him that "the Muslims will fix this country." Omeed Aziz Popal, we were told, was suffering from stress from an arranged marriage. Ismail Yassin Mohamed, we were informed, was mentally ill, suffered from depression, and hadn't being taking his medication. And Muhammad Teshale, according to "law enforcement officials," "did it to be famous."

Coincidence or jihad? Certainly there are a lot of hit-and-run and incidents involving people hit by cars that have nothing to do with Muslims, but in the cases listed here there is a degree of intentionality in these that we do not usually see.

"Kansas Motorist Drives for Three Miles with Dead Man on Roof of Van," from FoxNews.com, June 11 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

WICHITA – After fatally striking a lawn mowing contractor, the driver of a van continued on for another three miles (4.8km) with the body on the roof of his vehicle in Wichita, Kansas on Friday -- sparking 911 calls from people who saw the disturbing sight.

The victim, an unnamed 32-year-old man, was working with a weed-eater near a street outside a Hawker Beechcraft plant when he was struck about 7:15am, The Wichita Eagle reported citing local police capital [sic] Hassan Ramzah.

The force of the impact threw the victim onto the windshield and then the roof of the van -- a Toyota Sienna XLE with a luggage rack on top -- but the motorist, a 67-year-old man, did not stop....

KAKE-TV reported the driver -- named as Mohamed Sarrafizadeh -- was booked into jail Friday evening on a charge of leaving the scene of a fatal accident, but was later released after paying a bond.