Jerusalem: Israeli authorities have arrested five suspects following an attack claimed by Daesh that killed two policemen, the police said on Monday.
The officers were shot dead on Sunday in the northern Israeli city of Hadera as the Jewish state hosted a landmark meeting of top US and Arab diplomats.
Five people were also wounded when the gunmen opened fire at the police and passers-by in Hadera attack - the second since Tuesday linked to Daesh.
The police officers killed were identified as Shirel Aboukrat, a French-Israeli citizen, and Yazan Falah, an Israeli Druse. They were both 18 years old.
A security source said the two gunmen were Israeli Arabs from the northern Arab-populated town of Umm Al Fahm.
Police said they were identified by Israeli intelligence as local Daesh operatives and killed by counterterrorism officers who happened to be nearby.
Israeli police, in cooperation with the domestic Shin Bet security agency, carried out raids in the Umm Al Fahm.
“Three suspects were arrested there early on Monday on suspicion of membership in a terrorist organisation were arrested,” a police statement said.
The two other suspects were captured elsewhere, the police said, adding that weapons and books linked to Daesh were seized.
Daesh, in a rare claim of an attack inside Israel, said the assault was carried out by one of its commandos.
On Tuesday, a man wielding a knife stabbed several people and ran over another in southern Israel, killing four, in one of the deadliest attacks in the country in recent years.
Authorities identified the attacker as an Israeli Arab who had previously been convicted for supporting Daesh.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who travelled to Hadera on Sunday, said in a tweet: “A second attack by ISIS supporters inside Israel requires the security forces to quickly readapt to this new threat.”
Hamas praised Sunday’s attack as a “natural and legitimate response” to Israeli “crimes against our people”.
It was also welcomed by the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad militant group and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.
Arab-Israeli lawmaker Mansour Abbas denounced the attack in a statement saying: “Heinous terrorism by ISIS does not represent Arab society in Israel.”
