Two Arab terrorists killed four worshippers at a synagogue in the Haredi neighborhood of Har Nof in Jerusalem Tuesday morning.
Police officers shot and killed the murderers on the steps of the Kehilat Bnei Torah yeshiva-synagogue complex.
One of the policemen is in life-threatening condition from wounds in the shoot-out with the terrorists. The quick response of the police, two of whom were traffic officers who happened to be in the area, is credited with having prevented a worse massacre.
Seven people are being treated for injuries. Besides the police officer in very critical condition, one other is in very serious or condition, the wounds of two others were described as “serious, while two others are in moderate condition and one was injured lightly.
The terrorists were cousins and from the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, next to the predominantly Jewish area of Armon HaNatziv in Talpiot.
One eyewitness told police that a third terrorist escaped, but police later ruled out the possibility.
One of the terrorists was armed with a gun and the other with an axe and butcher knife, which was the size of that used in a slaughterhouse.
Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Davis Lau called the attack a “pogrom.”
“Two terrorists entered the synagogue and slaughtered worshippers wrapped in prayer shawls and tefillin. Several of the victims were mortally wounded,” rescue volunteer Aryeh Shavit told the 2525 website.