Middle East

Palestinian gunmen wound 2 Israeli officers and are killed

Three Palestinians carrying automatic weapons, explosive devices and knives shot and stabbed two Israeli security officers in Jerusalem on Wednesday, critically wounding one of them before police shot and killed the attackers, police said.
 
It was one the most brazen attacks in nearly five months of near-daily assaults, mostly stabbings, by Palestinians on Israeli police, soldiers and civilians.
 
The attack took place after Israeli paramilitary border police officers on a security patrol noticed three people who aroused their suspicion near the Old City's Damascus Gate, a central shopping area for Palestinians as well as a main tourist draw, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.
 
The officers stopped them, and as they began checking one of their ID cards, the other two drew guns and knives and attacked two female officers, wounding one seriously and the other critically, police said.
 
Police officers opened fire and killed the three Palestinians, and defused some unidentified explosive devices they were carrying.
 
"The weapons indicate that a combined attack was prevented by officers who protected city residents with their own bodies," Samri said in a statement.
 
Police identified the Palestinians as two 20-year-olds and one 21-year-old from the area of Jenin in the northern West Bank.
 
Associated Press video from the scene showed throngs of police officers weaving through a crowd of Palestinians and a row of police cars with sirens blaring. A police spokesman sent reporters a photo of a group of officers standing near a pool of blood near the gate.
 
Since mid-September, 26 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks. At least 154 Palestinians have died from Israeli fire, including 109 Israel said were attackers.
 
Israel says the violence has been fueled by a Palestinian campaign of lies and incitement. The Palestinians say it is rooted in frustrations stemming from nearly 50 years of Israeli occupation.

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