A terrorist opened fire on civilians on Jaffa Road in the commercial center of Jerusalem Tuesday afternoon, emptying an ammunition clip before being killed. Two Israelis were killed and over 40 people were wounded, five of them seriously. Large police forces rushed to the scene and began conducting sweeps for a possible additional assailant or a bomb planted in the area. The shooting occurred near Zion Square, close to where two suicide bombers exploded two months ago.

At about 16:15 p.m., the gunman opened fire with an M-16 rifle in all directions on Jaffa Road, hitting many civilians waiting at a nearby bus stop. Some eyewitness reports suggested that the terrorist managed to fire two full magazines with his weapon. Police patrolling in Zion Square chased the terrorist for about twenty meters before shooting him dead.

"I was on a regular patrol when I heard the gunfire," a soldier by the name of Hanan told Army Radio. "I ran in that direction and identified a man with an M-16, shooting wildly. He turned towards me and I fired at him, until he was neutralized."

"The terrorist has been killed and we have his weapon," said Jerusalem Police Commander Mickey Levy. "I can state one thing for certain . . . Because the police were nearby, they killed the terrorist very quickly. The damage could have been greater, with many more injured."

Levy said that the Police had received specific warnings of an impending terror attack just minutes before the Jaffa Road shooting, but didn't have enough time to locate the terrorist.

The terrorist was identified as Said Ibrahim Ramadan, a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade of the Fatah-Tanzim, ynet reported. Earlier the Hamas had claimed responsibility for the shooting, as part of the "all-out war" it declared in a statement released earlier in the afternoon in response to the killing of four terrorists in an IDF raid on their explosives laboratory in Nablus Tuesday morning.

U.S. condemns attack, demands Arafat act
Dore Gold, an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said that "Israel will respond appropriately in a manner that will eliminate this ongoing threat to the people of Israel."

The United States condemned the attack. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher stressed that Yasser Arafat "needs to dismantle the organizations that do these things."

He called on Arafat to make it impossible for terrorists to operate. "It's not a matter of whether they decide they will or they won't carry out attacks, it's making sure that they can't," he said.

Boucher said that Washington was "pleased" by Israel's rapid withdrawal from the West Bank city of Tulkarm after staying there for just a day, and refrained from directly criticizing Israeli actions. "I think the Israelis are quite aware of our views on some of these actions," he said.

But Palestinian spokesman Saeb Erekat said Israel was to blame for the Jerusalem shooting attack. "The terror attack is a direct result of the situation caused by Israel," he said. "If Israel expects quiet or security, it is mistaken."

Jaffa Road: a magnet to terrorists
Jaffa Road, bisecting the new city of Jerusalem, running from the central bus station to Jaffa Gate in the Old City, has long been a magnet to would-be terrorists dues to its symbolic value as the commercial hub of the Israeli capital. In particular, the area around the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, which meets Jaffa Road at Zion Square, has historically proven to be the most attractive target.

On December 2, 2001, eleven people, aged 14-21, were killed and 188 injured when two suicide bombers detonated themselves on Jaffa Road near Zion Square. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

On August 10, 2001, fifteen people were killed, including 7 children, and 130 were injured in a suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria at the corner of King George Street and Jaffa Road. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.

If the Tanzim claim of responsibility proves correct, it would mark one of the first times that the organization has launched an attack outside the West Bank and Gaza, a development regarded by Israeli analysts as indicating an escalation in the tactics of the Arafat-led organization.

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