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POSTING IN BOTH NOW-
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By TIM MCGIRK AND AARON J. KLEIN/JERUSALEM
47 minutes ago

Neighbors of the Mercaz Harav seminary in Jerusalem at first thought the noise was the popping of firecrackers for the upcoming Jewish holiday of Purim. But it was gunfire and, in fact, the deadliest terror attack in the city in the last four years.

A Palestinian armed with a semi-automatic rifle opened fire on a dining room full of Jewish religious students on Thursday night, killing eight and wounding eight others. Police officials say that the unnamed assailant, believed to be from Jbel Mukabar village in East Jerusalem, arrived at the seminary carrying a large box. Police told TIME that the terrorist walked into the unguarded seminary, up two flights of stairs to the library, where hundreds of male students, many of them teenagers, were having a celebratory feast. The intruder then pulled his weapon out of the box and began spraying the room with bullets. Eyewitnesses told police that students tried hiding under tables and behind bookshelves. But as the students began to scatter, he hunted them down, killing each victim, one by one, with shots to the head at close range.


Police say that, finally, a reserve paratrooper living next to the seminary and two detectives burst into the library and shot the attacker dead. "The terrorist came to the entrance and I shot him twice in the head," the paratrooper reportedly said. By late Thursday evening, no Palestinian militant group had yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

In Gaza, news of the seminary killing was greeted with Celebratory gunfire, cars Honking their Horns, and people Passing out Candy in the streets..."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/2008030...elsseminarians





Palestinian Hamas supporters Celebrate after a Palestinian gunman opened fire at a Jewish religious school in Jerusalem March 6, 2008. Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement, claimed responsibility on Friday for ]the shooting attack in which eight students were killed.
REUTERS/Mohammed Saleem