Two Israeli hikers, Pvt. Ahikam Amihai, 20 and Sgt. David Rubin, 21, long-time friends from nearby Kiryat Arba, together with a female friend, were stalked by at least four armed Palestinians in a jeep, who attacked them on the road near Telem, a Jewish community near the "green line."
The young men, who served together in an elite unit, were armed and fought back after being fired upon, killing 2 terrorists and wounding two others. The two hikers were pronounced dead at the scene. Their weapons were stolen by the terrorists.
Micky Rosenfeld, Israeli police spokesman, called the incident between the settlements of Telem and Aduran, west of Hebron, as a "terrorist attack". Israel's Zaka rescue service and Magen David Adom confirm that two hikers were pronounced dead at the scene.
Rescue services arrived at the scene almost an hour after the Israeli woman called for help, apparently because she was hiding to avoid being targeted herself and could not pinpoint the exact location of the attack. The woman was suffering from shock but otherwise unhurt.
IDF forces, along with search and rescue personnel, searched the area and found the abandoned vehicle that carried the terrorists, two of whom were dead. Blood stains indicate that two other terrorists were wounded.
The IDF, pursuing the killers, broke into a Hebron hospital, Palestinian sources reported.
Islamic Jihad and two factions of West Bank leader Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah organization claimed credit for the attack.
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