Israeli Gunman Kills 7 Arabs and Wounds 7

JERUSALEM —  At least seven Palestinians were killed and seven were wounded today when an Israeli man opened fire on laborers outside the central town of Rishon le Zion, police said.

The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear.

Police said the gunman asked the Palestinians for their identity cards at an assembly point for day laborers outside the town, 10 miles south of Tel Aviv, and then opened fire with a U.S.-made M-16 assault rifle.

He fled in a car bearing license plates issued in the occupied territories but was captured by police, Israel Radio said. Police set up roadblocks, rushed the wounded to nearby hospitals and used a helicopter to track the gunman.

Israel Radio initially said the gunman was apparently an Israeli soldier but later identified him as a 20-year-old civilian.

The shooting was the bloodiest single attack by an Israeli on Arabs since the Palestinian uprising began in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip in December, 1987.

In April, 1989, a lone Israeli wearing army fatigues opened fire with an Uzi submachine gun on a group of Palestinians sitting outside the walled Old City of Jerusalem, killing one Arab and wounding three others.

A man who said he was from a radical underground group claimed responsibility for the attack. The group has also claimed responsibility for a number of failed attacks on left-wing Israelis. However, no arrests were made in that attack.

Today’s incident came two days after Palestinian gunmen ambushed an Israeli patrol near Hebron on the West Bank, wounding a soldier, in one of the few armed attacks in the uprising.

More than 600 Palestinians have been killed since the unrest began; some have been slain by other Palestinians who accused them of being collaborators. More than 40 Israelis have also been slain.