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Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich arrived at the scene of the latest Palestinian terror attack, Shar Shechem. He is being briefed by the Jerusalem Police Chief and other officials. A police chopper hovers overhead the scene of the attack.

Police are operating at the scene and they have succeeded in restoring order after Arabs in the area pelted them with rocks.

MDA paramedic Avi Shalom tells Channel 2 News that to the best of his knowledge, the wounded border policewomen were injured by knives, not gunfire. As reported earlier, one is in critical condition and the second serious condition as major blood vessels were cut by the terrorists.

Police are reporting that based on the initial information available, three terrorists arrived at Shar Shechem from the Jenin area. Police have set up some checkpoints, aware someone likely assisted them in reaching the area.

When the terrorists arrived at Shar Shechem shortly before 2:00PM Wednesday afternoon, 24 Shevat, police immediately became suspicious and approached them, instructing them to identify themselves. At least one of them pulled out an automatic weapon and began firing as the others slashed with knives. Police are reporting at least two of them had automatic weapons. They were also armed with explosives so clearly, the outcome of this attack was intended to be significantly worse and B’chasdei Hashem this was not the case.

The response to the gunfire was immediate and the three terrorists were immediately neutralized. It is known that two of them are dead. The condition of the third is not known.

Some of the questions the police are probing at present include:
• How did the heavily armed terrorists get from the northern Shomron to the Old City?
• Were they carrying their weapons and explosives from Jenin or did they receive them in Jerusalem?
• Who and how many assisted them in getting to their destination?
• Does this represent a new escalation in attacks or an isolated incident.

The probe conditions. There are no official updates from the hospitals regarding the wounded at this time.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)