Israeli officer killed, three Palestinian attackers shot dead: Police

An Israeli policewoman was stabbed and killed in an attack outside Jerusalem's Old City and security forces shot dead three suspected Palestinian assailants, police have said.

The attack took place yesterday as Muslims marked the end of the third Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan, during which tens of thousands of Palestinians from east Jerusalem and the West Bank attended prayers at the nearby Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest site.

"Female border policewoman injured critically in attack at Damascus gate," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld wrote in a statement. "3 Arab terrorists shot by police units that responded at the scene."

Police said the three were killed.

The policewoman was taken to hospital in critical condition and later died of her wounds. She was identified as Hadas Malka, 23, a staff sergeant major.

According to police, two perpetrators opened fire at a group of police officers who returned fire, and a third stabbed the border policewoman a short distance away before being shot.

Jerusalem police chief Yoram Halevy identified the three attackers as Palestinians from the West Bank.

Israel had eased restrictions on the entrance of Palestinians from the West Bank for Ramadan, including permitting daily family visits during Sundays through Thursdays.

"During Ramadan there are large numbers of (Palestinian) youths who enter without permits, they take advantage of Ramadan to be in Jerusalem," Halevy told media at the scene of the attack.

Following the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a phone consultation with the chief of police and public security minister, and decided to cancel the family visits, a police statement read.

Netanyahu, however, did not revoke the permission given to Palestinian men aged over 40 from the West Bank to enter Jerusalem for Friday prayers, police said.

The area around Damascus Gate was sealed off in the hours after the attack, with a few youths throwing fireworks at security forces.

A road leading to Damascus Gate full of stalls opened especially for Ramadan was closed off by police, and a shopkeeper said this would normally be one of the busiest nights of the year.

Inside the Old City shops were open but the atmosphere was subdued and numbers of people much lower than normal.

Large numbers of heavily armed security forces were patrolling throughout the Old City, an AFP tally.

Israeli authorities say most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks.

The Old City in annexed east Jerusalem is one of the focal points of the wave of violence.