Two Border Policemen were very seriously wounded by a terrorist near the Lions' Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem in a shooting attack that occurred near midnight Friday. One of the policemen managed to fire back at the assailant but security sources say he did not hit him. The assailant had emerged from the Muslim cemetery nearby and escaped in the same direction. Police and Magen David Adom emergency crews arrived on the scene and the two wounded men were evacuated to Hadassah Ein Karem Medical Center. One of the officers, David Shriki from Rishon LeTzion, was shot in the head and is in critical condition, while the second, Imad Gadir from the Druze village of Zarzir, is in moderate condition. The security camera at the scene recorded the attack but Channel 2 TV reported that the attacker could not be identified based on the video. Security forces rounded up some Arabs near the scene of the attack but let them go afterwards. Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen said that he did not see a connection between the attack Friday and two previous attacks in Jerusalem – the massacre at Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva and a killing spree by "It is difficult to find a connection between the last three terror attacks in the capital, but the matter will be investigated." a bulldozer driver ten days ago. There was no prior intelligence warning that this kind of attack was imminent, he added. Public Security Minister Avi Dichter visited the wounded Border Policemen at the hospital and told reporters later that he did not see the recent spate of attacks by Israeli Arabs as a new violent uprising ("intifada"). "It is difficult to find a connection between the last three terror attacks in the capital, but the matter will be investigated," he said. Dichter also hinted that there may have been a security failure in the incident: "The police will have to check how it happened that the two policemen were surprised by the terrorist's fire," he said, adding that the police "will know how to learn its lessons from the incident if needed."
