Residents of Israeli town of Deir al-Asad fire live rounds at police forces
Immediately following the initial exchange in fire, a large security unit led by the Northern District Police Commander was summoned to the scene to defuse the situation.
By ZACHARY KEYSERDeir al-Asad(photo credit: WIKIPEDIA)
Residents of the Israeli town of Deir al-Asad in the northern Galilee region, shot at local on-duty police officers using live ammunition late Friday night.After the security unit was called to the area to handle an incident already in progress, the police van arrived to the scene to be greeted by a barrage of bullets from local residents, to which the officers immediately returned fire in the direction of - no casualties have been reported, according to The Jerusalem Post's sister publication Maariv.Immediately following the initial exchange in fire, a large security unit led by the Northern District Police Commander was summoned to the scene to defuse the situation - encircling the village, allowing no one in or out until further notice.Police officers have not been able to locate the shooting suspects after performing extensive initial on ground scans of the surrounding areas, and in turn have requested the use of air support to help track down the perpetrators.Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan has been spearheading a campaign to locate and seize illegally held weapons in Israeli territories since the beginning of the year, and since then police forces have seized nearly 4,000 weapons from illegal gun owners - which is seen as a major player in the recent escalation behind shooting events between residents and security forces.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the event at the first cabinet meeting since Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit decided to indict him for bribery, fraud and breach of trust."Yesterday a police car was shot at in Deir al-Asad, we will not tolerate attacks on security forces," Netanyahu said.
