Jerusalem policeman wounded, attacker killed: police

A knife attack seriously wounded an Israeli border policeman on Sunday before fellow officers killed the assailant, police said. The stabbing took place at Damascus Gate, the main entry point for Palestinians to the walled Old City of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem. It brought to 99 the number of Palestinians killed in a wave of unrest since October 1. Over half of them have been alleged perpetrators of stabbing, shooting and car ramming attacks aimed at Israeli civilians and security forces. The violence has also left 17 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean dead. In a separate incident an attacker stabbed a woman near a bus stop in north Jerusalem on Sunday before fleeing the scene, Israeli police said. "Woman standing near the bus stop on Shamgar Street, Jerusalem, stabbed in the back," a police statement said. Israel's medical service said the victim, in her 30s, was not seriously wounded. Attempts to ease the tensions, including a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry last week, have proved unsuccessful. The violence erupted in Jerusalem amid tensions over the sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound but swiftly spread to the flashpoint southern West Bank city of Hebron where hundreds of Jewish settlers live under army guard among 200,000 Palestinians. The army shut down the Dream radio station in the city earlier on Sunday, the third private broadcaster in Hebron it has closed, accusing them of stoking the violence. An Israeli minister raised the threat last week of shutting down Palestinian public broadcasters too, charging that they were guilty of fanning the flames as well.