JERUSALEM
(Reuters) - Three gunmen opened fire at police near Jerusalem's holiest site on
Friday, wounding three Israelis, two of them critically, before the attackers
were
killed by security forces, Israeli police said.
The gunmen
arrived at the sacred site, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews
as Temple Mount, and walked toward one of the Old City gates nearby, police
spokeswoman Luba Simri said.
"When
they saw policemen they shot toward them and then escaped toward one of the
mosques in the Temple Mount compound," Simri said. "A chase ensued
and the three terrorists were killed by police."
She said
three firearms were found on their bodies.
Mobile phone
video footage aired by Israeli media showed several policemen chasing a man and
shooting him down at the site, which is a popular place for foreign tourists to
visit. Israeli authorities are still working to identify the attackers, police
spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
There was no
immediate comment from Palestinian officials.
The Israeli
ambulance service Magen David Adom said three Israelis were wounded, two
critically.
Tensions are
often high around the marble-and-stone compound that houses the Aqsa Mosque and
the golden Dome of the Rock. It is managed by Jordanian authorities and is
adjacent to the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews are permitted to
pray.
Police said
Friday prayers for Muslims would not be held at the site following the attack.
A wave of
Palestinian street attacks that began in 2015 has slowed but not stopped. At
least 255 Palestinians and one Jordanian citizen have been killed since the
violence began.
Israel says
at least 173 of those killed were carrying out attacks while others died in
clashes and protests. Thirty-eight Israelis, two U.S. tourists and a British
student have been killed in stabbings, shootings and car-rammings.
Israel
annexed East Jerusalem, where the Old City and the holy compound are located,
after the 1967 Middle East war and regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, a
move that is not recognized internationally.
Palestinians
want East Jerusalem as the capital of the state they want to establish in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israel
blames the wave of violence on incitement by the Palestinian leadership. The
Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, says
desperation over the occupation is the main driver.
The last,
U.S.-led attempt to broker peace between the Israelis and Palestinians broke
down in 2014.
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