Herald-Sun

Gunmen Injure 16 in Jerusalem Ambush By JAMIE TARABAY : Associated Press Writer Nov 4, 2001 : 9:46 am ET

JERUSALEM -- Gunmen opened fire on a bus in Jerusalem on Sunday, injuring 16 people, police and medical officials said. Police shot and killed one attacker.

The surviving gunmen escaped into a large dry riverbed headed toward Ramot Alon, a large Jewish neighborhood in the disputed section of Jerusalem, Israel radio said.

Avi Zohar, director of the Magen David Adom ambulance service, said 16 people were evacuated from the scene, four of them with serious injuries.

Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy said anywhere from one to three gunmen, who were not on the bus, ambushed the vehicle. A border police officer and a soldier shot and killed one of the gunmen, he told Israel radio.

An eyewitness, who identified himself only as Marcus, said he fired on one gunman after he saw him fire onto the right side of the bus

"He was standing there and shooting," Marcus told Israel radio. "I got out of the car. I fired. I emptied an entire clip. He fell. Then two soldiers came, and I showed them where he was, and they shot him with their M-16s," he said.

He said he was not a soldier but a civilian settler. It wasn't clear if he was referring to the same gunman as Levy.

The area of the shooting was the French Hill section of Jerusalem, which is near several Palestinian villages and neighborhoods.

It came as Israeli officials said they planned to withdraw imminently from a West Bank town, Qalqilya, after a two-week incursion to round up Palestinian militants.

Dore Gold, an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said the withdrawal would now have to be reassessed.

"Israeli intelligence has warned if it precipitously redeploys, a wave of terrorism will hit Israel proper," he told Israel Radio. "Today it has begun to seep in already."

-- Anonymous, November 04, 2001