3 wounded in shooting ambush in Israeli-occupied West Bank

JERUSALEM (AP) — Gunmen in a passing car opened fire at Israelis standing at a major intersection in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday, injuring three of them, rescue officials, the military and news reports said.

At least two assailants escaped in the car, which had with Palestinian license plates, the reports said. The military said troops fired towards the car.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack at Tapuah junction in the central West Bank.

The Magen David Adom emergency service said two of the injured were in serious condition and a third person was lightly hurt. The emergency service said the three injured people were in their 20s.

In recent years, Palestinians have carried out a series of shooting and car-ramming attacks, most of them attributed to so-called “lone wolf” assailants.

The attacks are part of ongoing friction between a growing population of Jewish settlers and Palestinian residents of the West Bank, at a time when hopes for a peace deal are dim.

The Palestinians seek the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — territories Israel also captured in the 1967 Mideast war — for a future state.