Hospital: 2nd Israeli, wounded in Jerusalem blasts, dies
Israeli police guard the scene after an explosion on the main street of Jerusalem, on Monday, September 23, 2014. According to initial reports, an Israeli police force officer was killed in a strike by two Palestinian militants on a bus in Jerusalem on Sunday. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
JERUSALEM, Israel (AP) — An Israeli police officer was killed by a stray bullet fired by two Palestinian militants in Jerusalem on Sunday, the police said.
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a text message that the officer was killed about 15 minutes after Israeli police responded to a call from residents near the settlement’s security fence in the West Bank.
Sirens wailed, and people were evacuated from a nearby supermarket after the blast shook the area around the settlement of Kiryat Arba.
It was the second such attack in the West Bank in four days, with a Palestinian killed by a car bomb in the Nablus area on Wednesday and Wednesday’s explosion in the West Bank settlement of Ofra that killed a man and another wounded several Israelis.
Israeli police said they were notified of the attack by the Israel National Traumatology and Psychosocial Rehabilitation Center, which provided assistance to the wounded, who, at least in the initial phase of their treatment, were not under arrest.
The Jerusalem Police Department did not comment on whether an investigation had been opened for the death of the officer or whether any Palestinian suspected of involvement in the attack has been arrested.
The Palestinian Authority says that its territory is not the target of Sunday’s bombing or the death of the officer.
The death was the second on Israeli soil in four days. Two other Israelis were wounded in a shooting attack outside a military intelligence headquarters in the West Bank on Friday, the military said.
The Israeli government has been criticized for not doing enough to deter such attacks by Palestinians.
