Two terrorists, Palestinian policemen acting on behalf of Islamic Jihad, drove into the center of Hadera yesterday and opened fired on passersby. Four Israeli women were killed and 42 injured, some in serious condition. Police detectives shot and killed both terrorists. Earlier, an Israeli soldier was killed in an ambush while waiting in his car at a highway intersection near Kibbutz Metzer.

Shortly after 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon, two terrorists stopped their stolen red Mitsubishi sports utility vehicle on President Weizman Street in the center of Hadera. The two directed gunfire from M16 automatic rifles at passersby on the street and at people waiting at a nearby bus stop. One eyewitness said one of the attackers got out of the car and opened fire while the other remained inside.

"Two weapons were aimed at the two sides of the road and then terrorists opened fire,'' Northern District police commander Yaacov Borovsky told Israel Radio.

"I heard bursts of fire and I thought it was lightning,'' said Yaakov Roth-Levy, who watched the drama unfold from his balcony. "I saw two people sitting with bowed heads and one lying on the ground. A red car was being fired on. I saw the terrorist fall out of it."

Hadera plainclothes police detectives who were in the area on a regular patrol shot and killed the two terrorists. "We heard short bursts of gunfire and immediately realized this was a terror attack," said officer Doron Koter. "We ran towards their car… and from a distance of a few meters opened fire on the terrorists. All around people were crying, bleeding and injured," he said.

The four women killed were Lydia Marco, 63, from Givat Ada; Ayala Levy, 39, from Malachin; Sima Menachem, 30, from Zichron Yaacov; and Smadar Levy, 23, from Hadera. At least 42 people were injured in the attack. Three were reported to be in serious condition.

The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack in a videotaped message delivered to The Associated Press. The attackers were identified as Youssef Sweitat, 22 and Nidal al-Jabali, 23. Both men worked for the Palestinian police force. It was the first time Palestinian policemen have taken part in a terrorist attack inside the Green Line, Ha'aretz reported. Security sources do not believe that Palestinian security forces knew that two of their men were planning a terror attack on behalf of the Islamic Jihad.

Israeli soldier killed in driveby shooting
Earlier, Staff-Sgt. Yaniv Levy, 22, from Zichron Yaacov was shot and killed near Kibbutz Metzer. Police said Levy was sitting in his car, waiting to meet another individual near a bus stop on Highway 574, about one kilometer from the Green Line boundary. The driver of a white Volkswagen vehicle reportedly pulled up, got out of his car and approached the Israeli. According to an eyewitness, the terrorist opened fire on the victim at close range with an automatic weapon.

The terrorist and an accomplice allegedly fled into nearby Baka el-Garbiah and from there into Palestinian Authority-controlled territory, Army Radio reported.

An anonymous caller told The Associated Press that the Al-Aksa Brigade of the Fatah movement claimed responsibility for the shooting, in revenge for the killing of Fatah activist Karem Farez Jabbar, 23, by IDF troops yesterday in Tulkarm.

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