An Israeli Druze border policeman was fatally shot and another wounded in a broad daylight attack on the main street in Nablus yesterday. Military sources, who clamped a curfew on the area, said the attack appeared to have been carefully planned.
The victims were Sgt. Maj. Jamil Fares, 46, a resident of Galilee who died of a chest would after he was rushed by helicopter to the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan; and a 19-year-old policeman, identified only as Ghanem, who was taken to the same hospital for treatment of what were described as moderate wounds.
Five passersby were wounded, apparently by shots fired by Israel Defense Force soldiers who rushed to the scene to try to head off the attackers. A military spokesman said the shooting of the two Druze police man seems to have been premeditated because both had served for some time in Nablus. They were well acquainted with the local scene and knew what security precautions to take.
Both were off duty at noontime yesterday but in uniform while they went shopping with their wives and other members of their families. Fares and his family entered a shop and Ghanem remained on guard outside. He was struck first by what appeared to be a pistol shot. Fares was gunned down when he rushed outside to aid his fellow officer.
MAYOR EXPRESSES REGRET
Zafer AI-Masri, the newly appointed Mayor of Nablus, expressed regrets over the attack and hoped the killers would be caught swiftly. In the past year, 17 Israelis were attacked in the administered territories, five fatally. Police suspect two terrorist gangs are active in the Samaria region of the West Bank where Nablus is located. An Israeli civilian employed by the military government was shot to death there last July.
The dead police sergeant was the father of six children. He had served in the Nablus area periodically since 1967. He also saw service in Lebanon where he escaped death twice from roadside bombs. A member of his family, Kamal Fares, was killed three years ago by a bomb explosion in Ramallah.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
