Two Israeli police officers shot dead in Jordan Valley terror attack
Their names were released Monday: David Rabbinovich, 50 from Rosh Ha’ayin and Yehezkiel Ramzarkar, 42 from Maale Ephraim.
A large manhunt on both sides of the Israeli-Jordanian border failed to capture the gunmen who shot dead two Israeli policemen in an ambush of their van on Highway 90 near Masuah in the Jordan Valley Sunday night, March 15.
“The Imad Moughniyeh Martyr’s Brigades” claimed the attack in an anonymous call to the French News Agency.
The incident is under investigation, including the possibility that the assailants may have infiltrated from Jordan.
This hypothesis is borne out by the professional way the attack was carried out, indicating a better standard of military training than displayed in terrorist attacks by West Bank Palestinians.
The perpetrators set their ambush at a bend in the road where conditions force traffic to slow down and waited in a dark spot far from the nearest habitation for a police or military vehicle to pass by.
Even in the nearest houses no one heard the shots.
It was only some time later, that a passing motorist came upon the overturned police car. His alert brought large military and police forces to the scene.
It has not been positively established at this point that the attackers did indeed come from the neighboring kingdom. Nevertheless, Israel put the Jordanian authorities on guard for a terrorist team on the loose in the region and both launched a pursuit.