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SMASH PANIC
Greenacre crash – Twelve people injured after SUV smashes into Islamic fashion shop in Sydney
TWELVE people - including "numerous girls" - have been injured after a smoking van ploughed into an Islamic shop in Sydney.
The driver and 11 pedestrians are being treated after the SUV crashed into Hijab House after 3pm local time today, say emergency services.
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Shocking footage circulating on social media shows a dark four-wheel-drive with its tyres smoking as it burns rubber pushing a white sedan in front of it in stopped traffic.
The vehicle then suddenly breaks free and speeds straight towards the shop, smashing through the front doors.
Other harrowing images show passers-by rushing into the store to help the injured.
One eyewitness, journalist Rayane Tamer, said that "numerous girls" were hurt in the smash.
She tweeted: "I cross this intersection multiple times a day. I am shaking."
'BIG CRASH'
Local resident Harry Merhi told the Sydney Morning Herald he heard, “a big crash, like something 'bang'.
“I realised it's something wrong, a car accident, and then I heard the police cars coming all the way.
“I ran up here ... the car was inside the shop.”
A spokesman for Hijab House told reporters: "A number of our customers and staff members were injured.
"The community is shaken and management is working to make sense of this tragedy.
"At this stage motives are unknown. The important thing is everyone is still alive."
Of those wounded, one was taken to hospital with serious injuries while another suffered potentially serious injuries, cops said.
However, no injuries were believed to be life-threatening.
DRIVER ARRESTED
The driver, a 51-year-old man allegedly known to police for traffic offending, has been arrested.
New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell told reporters he was "very grateful" nobody had been killed.
Just before 3.15pm, emergency services were called to the intersection of Boronia and Waterloo Roads, Greenacre, after reports of a crash.
The Mitsubishi SUV smashed into a vehicle stopped at the traffic lights before continuing into the nearby Hijab House.
Mr Thurtell said the four-wheel-drive crossed into lane one and "collided with the rear of another vehicle which appeared to have then applied its brakes".
It "continued to push that vehicle and in doing so burning its front tyres."
It does appear that it's [been] done deliberately.
Police superintendent Murray Reynolds
After the vehicle in front of it got out of the way, the SUV "then crossed the intersection and ran into Hijab House," he added.
Police superintendent Murray Reynolds told 2GB he believed the crash may have been deliberate.
"It does appear that it's [been] done deliberately but potentially it could be a medical episode.
"The scene itself it obviously quite chaotic.
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"I'm grateful no one was killed."
Officers from Bankstown Police Area Command remain at the scene and are conducting inquiries.
Motorists have been urged to avoid the area.
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