Arab Terror Sniper Kills Ten, Wounds Six At West Bank Roadblock

Jerusalem----March 3.......Terrorism against Israelis continued this morning when a lone Arab sniper took aim at both soldiers and civilians, killing 10 Israelis and wounding 6. Among the dead was a civilian paramedic who had rushed to the aid of those attacked. The shooting took place near the Samaria community of Ofra. Seven of the dead were soldiers, Army Radio reported.

The wounded, which include four who sustained serious gunshot wounds, one moderately wounded and one lightly, were rushed to Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Kerem, Hadassah University Hospital, Mt. Scopus, and Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem.

The Yasser Arafat's Fatah Aksa Brigades took responsibility for the attack.

Israeli terror victims from last night's attack in Jerusalem were not yet buried
when Arab terrorists again resumed their campaign of terror, violence and deadly hate.

The Palestinian sniper then continued shooting at arriving rescue and medical units, later fleeing into nearby Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, Israel Radio reported.

Soldiers on the scene returned fire at the assailant, according to first reports.

The IDF immediately responded with a series of powerful strikes against Palestinian security installations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip which rather than preventing acts of terror - were used to encourage violence and murder..

This morning's violence — which drew demands in Israel for the deposing of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat — came a day after a Palestinian terror suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem Saturday evening, killing nine Israelis, including several children and babies.

An Israeli family murdered
in last night's terror attack in Jerusalem

Israeli tanks, warplanes and naval vessels were used in Sunday's retaliatory strikes. F-16s circled overhead in Gaza and the West Bank, and Israeli gunboats moved close to the Gaza coast.

Israel blamed Arafat for the latest attacks, and Dan Naveh, a Cabinet minister, said it showed ``there is no alternative but to put an end to Arafat's rule.''
``I think the best way to ensure the safety of Israeli citizens is that there will no longer be a Palestinian Authority headed by Arafat,'' he said.

Many Palestinians also complained that the violence was spiraling out of control.

In today's early morning shooting at the IDF roadblock, paramedic Hezi Tsur told Israel radio that seven soldiers and two civilians were killed. The army also said nine died, without specifying how many of them were soldiers. A Jerusalem hospital, Hadassah Ein Kerem, later reported one of the wounded, a civilian, had died as well.

The IDF described the terror attack as an ambush that was believed to have been the work of a single sniper.

Motorist Eli Barashi said he was about 300 yards from the checkpoint at the time. ``I heard shooting and I saw the soldiers firing back ... as I stood there somebody was hit and fell and shouted for a medic,'' he told Israel radio.

Army radio put the number of wounded at 10, and Yerocham Mandola, spokesman of the Magen David Adom ambulance service, said six people were hurt, four seriously.

Palestinian terrorists also opened fire on a group of soldiers early Sunday along a road that runs on the Israeli side of the fence between the Gaza Strip and southern Israel. Army radio said one Israeli was killed and three others wounded. The army said four soldiers were hurt. The terror group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for that attack in a telephone call to The Associated Press office in Gaza.

Israel soldiers, civilians and medical workers
gunned down by a terrorist sniper this morning.

The IDF swiftly responded, using tanks to knock down two Palestinian checkpoints on the Gaza side near the site of the shooting and conducting a house-to-house search in the nearby village of al-Qarara. Palestinians also reported two people were hurt when Israeli troops opened fire on a Palestinian security post near Khan Younis in central Gaza.

In the West Bank, Israeli tanks shelled a Palestinian intelligence office outside Salfit, south of the city of Nablus, and the Palestinians said a policemen had been killed.

Israeli troops also aimed heavy machine-gun fire at a Palestinian security checkpoint near the West Bank town of Ramallah manned by Palestinian security forces. Earlier Sunday, Israeli helicopters fired four missiles at Palestinian Authority headquarters and a small factory in Bethlehem.