Four killed in Jerusalem synagogue attack

An Israeli police spokesman said the two suspects used knives, axes and a pistol in the attack on a congregation of Jews gathered for morning prayers.

"We are viewing this as a terrorist attack," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the Reuters news agency.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri was quoted as saying that the two assailants had been killed in a shoot-out with police.

"Two terrorists, apparently from east Jerusalem, entered a yeshiva (Jewish seminary) in Har Nof (a neighborhood in the southwest of the city) and attacked worshippers with axes and a pistol," Samri said.

"The two terrorists were neutralized," she added, using a police euphemism for the killing of a suspect.

The attack was the deadliest in Jerusalem in years and comes after months of increased tension in the city.

Video broadcast on Israeli television showed the synagogue surrounded by police and rescue workers shortly after the attack.

"I tried to escape. The man with the knife approached me. There was a chair and table between us ... my prayer shawl got caught. I left it there and escaped," a worshipper identified as Yossi told Israel's Channel 2 television.

The attack was hailed by the Islamist miliant group Hamas, but it stopped short of claiming responsibility.

Politcal reaction

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the attack on both Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"This is a direct result of incitement led by Hamas and Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas), incitement that the international community has been irresponsibly ignoring," a statement released by Netanyahu's office said.

"We will respond with a heavy hand to the brutal murder of Jews who came to pray and were killed by lowly murderers," he added.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, however, condemned the attack saying he opposed attacks on civilians.

A statement released by his office said Abbas "condemns the killing of worshippers today in a house of worship in Jerusalem."

At the same time, he blamed the violence on Israeli raids on mosques, provocations by Jewish settlers and incitement by hardline Israeli government ministers.

pfd/ksb (Reuters, AP, dpa, AFP)