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Security officer expresses amazement at low number of casualties in recent terror attack

Security footage from the scene showed the terrorist standing in the road firing at vehicles.

By Sveta Listratov, TPS

Hours after a Palestinian shooting attack injured three Israelis on Thursday morning, security officials expressed amazement that there weren’t more casualties.

“Near the scene of the attack we saw the school bus that was shot — we could see the bullet holes right on the driver’s side, on the windshield,” Hadas Tzur Gozlan, the Security Officer of Jordan Valley Regional Counsel told The Press Service of Israel.

“Then we got the report of an additional school bus that got hit. We found six or seven bullet holes in it. Thankfully the buses were bulletproof and miraculously there were no injuries.”

Gozlan was describing how a terrorist opened fire on a school bus and other vehicles in the Jordan Valley, near the Palestinian village of Al-Auja, north of Jericho. Several cars were also riddled with bullets. A manhunt for the gunman continued into the evening.

Security footage from the scene showed the terrorist standing in the road firing at vehicles.

“You could hear the shots and see the terrorist standing in front of the bus with a weapon drawn in the direction of the driver and shooting, before fleeing west in the direction of Jericho,” Gozlan said.

The three victims were initially taken to the nearby Kibbutz Na’ama for first aid, then later evacuated to Jerusalem hospitals.

Two of the victims suffered gunshot wounds. The third victim, a 13-year old boy from nearby Moshav Petza’el, was lightly injured by shards of glass and has already been released from the hospital.

Golan confirmed to TPS-IL that the two gunshot victims are “anarchists” from Jerusalem known for frequently harassing local Jordan Valley residents and security personnel. TPS-IL has learned that they came from a left-wing organization called “Looking the Occupation in the Eye.”

“It’s awful that they got shot,” Tzur Golan has commented. ” We have taken care of their wounds while the ambulance was on its way, they are hospitalized in Jerusalem now.”

Palestinian terror attacks have surged during the Islamic month of Ramadan.