JERUSALEM (JTA) — One Israeli policeman was killed and three were injured in what is being described as an ambush on a police vehicle near Hebron.
The officers were being driven Monday morning from Beersheba to take up their posts in the Hebron area. The attack took place near the West Bank settlement of Beit Haggai.
Sgt.-Maj Yehoshua Sofer, 39, who had been serving in the Hebron region for 14 years, was shot in the stomach and died. Two other police officers were shot in the stomach and chest.
An unknown group calling itself the the Freedom Flotilla Martyrs claimed responsibility for the attack.
"Our response will continue, and we will never lay down our weapons as long as the Zionist army remains on our land, nor will we recognize any cease-fire," read a statement issued by the group, Ynet reported Monday afternoon.
Israeli army troops set up roadblocks and were searching the area for the attackers.
Eighteen checkpoints have been removed by the Israeli army in the Hebron area in the past year, Haaretz reported.
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