BBCcom_Content_Index_for_December_9_2020.txt

Five killed in Jerusalem shooting attack, paramedics say

Five people have jet bet casinobeen killed and seven seriously wounded in a shooting attack by Palestinian gunmen in Jerusalem, paramedics and police say.

Israel's Magen David Adom ambulance service identified the dead as three men in their 30s, one woman in her 50s, and one man in his 50s. Nine people with gunshot wounds were taken to hospitals with three others injured by broken glass.

Israeli police said two "terrorists" arrived in a vehicle and opened fire towards a bus stop at Ramot Junction, on the city's northern outskirts. A security officer and a civilian returned fire, and "neutralised" the attackers, it added.

There was no immediate claim from any armed groups, although Hamas praised the attack.

The police said a large number of officers were securing the area, and that bomb disposal units were ensuring that it was safe while forensic teams gathered evidence.

The Israeli military said soldiers had also been deployed to the area and were searching for suspects in co-operation with the police.

Troops were also encircling several areas on the outskirts of the city of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, to "thwart terrorism and strengthen the defense effort", it added.

Israeli media reported that the gunmen were believed to have set out from the villages of al-Qubeiba and Qatanna, which are about 10km (6 miles) west of Ramot Junction.

Police Assistant Commissioner Shlomi Bachar told Channel 12 TV at the scene that officers were "currently trying to understand how they got here, who brought them, and I believe that within a short time we will reach everyone who is involved", the Times of Israel reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was meanwhile conducting a situation assessment with the heads of the security establishment following the attack, his office said.

Hamas praised what it called the "heroic and exceptional operation by two Palestinian resistance fighters", which it said was a "natural response to the crimes of the occupation [Israel] and the genocide it is waging against our people".

Germany's Foreign Minister, Johann Wadephul, said he was "deeply shocked by the cowardly terrorist attack" and that his thoughts were with the victims' families.

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