Three killed in West Bank shooting

A Palestinian gunman shot dead two teenage girls and a woman in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Hermesh before being killed himself in a late night gun battle with soldiers and local residents, witnesses and the army said.

The gunman also wounded two Hermesh residents and one soldier during the shooting rampage late yesterday, resident Roni Mizrahi said.

The gunman infiltrated the northern West Bank settlement – apparently by crawling under a perimeter fence – and fired on the two teenage girls who were walking through the town, said Mizrahi, who saw the shooting. The gunman then fired onto a nearby house, wounding a husband and his wife, who later died of her wounds, he added.

A rifle and four ammunition clips were found on the gunman’s body, an army spokesman said.