TERROR: 2 Policewomen Badly Hurt in Attack in Old City of Yerushalayim (Photos)

Two Israeli policewomen were wounded, one critically and another seriously, when three Palestinians shot and stabbed them outside Shaar Shechem in Yerushalayim’s Old City on Wednesday afternoon.

The three, identified by the Palestinian news agency Ma’an as Ahmed Abou Al-Roub, Mohammed Kameel and Mohammed Nassar, all hailing from the northern West Bank, arrived at the scene armed with apparently locally fabricated “Carl Gustav” rifles, knives and two pipe bombs, police said. Police initially suspected a third item found at the scene was a bomb, but sappers determined it was an abandoned bag.

A third victim, identified only as a 20-year-old Israeli, was very lightly wounded and treated in the scene.

A team of border police spotted them and asked to see their identification papers. While one attacker withdrew his ID card, the others attacked the officers with guns and knives.

Jerusalem Police spokesman Assi Aharoni said that a far more deadly attack was thwarted through the fast response of security forces, who shot and killed the attackers moments after they opened fire.

“This is a combined attack, a serious attack, which was prevented by the vigilance of police at the scene,” a police spokeswoman said.

Paramedics with the Magen David Adom ambulance service said they treated the two women on the scene, then evacuated them to Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus. One victim was in critical condition after suffering several stab wounds, the paramedics said. The other was in serious condition.

MDA director Eli Bin said that medics attempted to resuscitate the woman who was in critical condition. He told Channel 2 that she had been stabbed in the neck multiple times and had lost a lot of blood.

“When we arrived at the scene we saw two young women, approximately 20 years old, lying on the ground with puncture wounds to the upper body. One was unconscious, the other was still conscious but dazed,” MDA paramedic Nissan Hefetz said.

Two of the attackers were from Qabatiya in the northern West Bank, and the third was from nearby Jenin. Police said they were all 20-21 years old.

Police sealed off the area around Damascus Gate to examine a suspicious package after the attack and neutralized two pipe bombs, a police spokesman said.

Times of Israel

{Matzav.com Israel}