Police Detective Killed in Gang-land Style

The gangland-style killing of an Israeli police detective near the Jaffa Gate early today appears to have been the work of criminal elements, but the authorities are not ruling out the possibility of a terrorist act.

The victim, Avi Biazzi, 30, was driving an unmarked car to the Kishleh police station just inside Jaffa Gate when another car pulled alongside and two masked men opened fire with automatic weapons. Biazzi, survived by his wife and 18-month-old daughter, was riddled with 30 bullets, the police reported. Two passengers in a third car were slightly wounded in the hail of fire.

More than a dozen suspects were detained for questioning. Four of them, all from the Arab village of Kfar Silwan in East Jerusalem, are being held. The prime suspect, identified as a 22-year-old Arab with a criminal record involving drug trafficking, was apprehended at his home in Kfar Silwan in the act of burning his clothes, apparently to destroy evidence.

Biazzi was a member of the team investigating this suspect when he was murdered. Jerusalem Police Inspector General David Krauss told reporters, “It appears the background (of the crime) is criminal. All the same, we’re not ruling out the possibility there are other directions to the investigation.”

Police found the car used in the attack abandoned in a wadi. It was a stolen vehicle. A search yielded spent cartridge shells. Police are looking for the murder weapons.

Although the authorities seem fairly convinced that the underworld was involved, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s “Force 17” claimed responsibility for the killing.