RAMAT HASHARON, July 19: An Israeli judge was found shot dead in a car near his home outside Tel Aviv on Monday and a Palestinian group claimed responsibility.
Justice Minister Yosef Lapid reported the killing in Israel's parliament but said it was not known who targeted the judge, identified by Israeli media as 49-year-old Adi Azar.
Police said criminal motives were not being ruled out. Local media said Mr Azar was shot at close range three times in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Hasharon. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the murder.
The caller said Mr Azar was shot for suggesting that the Palestinian Authority be fined for suicide bomb attacks on Israelis, and also in revenge for the slaying of senior Hezbollah guerrilla Ghalib Awali in a Beirut bombing on Monday.
Hezbollah, which backs the Palestinian uprising against Israel, blamed Israeli agents for Mr Awali's death and vowed revenge. Israel declined comment on the bombing. Israeli investigators said they had not ruled out a local, criminal motive for the attack, reported to be the first killing of a judge in Israeli history.
Israeli officials said in television and radio interviews that Azar's killing was a serious blow to the judicial system but did not say who might have been responsible. "All directions including criminal are being investigated. Our entire district is mobilized to find the perpetrators of this barbaric act," said Tel Aviv police chief Yossi Sedbon.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office released a statement expressing his "deep shock and pain" at Mr Azar's killing. Three Palestinians killed: Three Palestinian militants were killed and an Israeli army official was seriously wounded on Monday during two separate incidents in the northern West Bank.
Two of the militants were killed inside a house in Seida, near Tulkarem, during a shootout with Israeli troops. An Israeli military source said an army official was seriously wounded after gunfire erupted from a house surrounded by troops seeking to arrest "wanted terrorists". -AFP