Gunman goes on rampage, kills two, injures seven

Medics give emergency treatment to a victim following an attack by an unidentified gunman in central Tel Aviv that killed two people and wounded seven others on January 1, 2016. (AFP PHOTO/JACK GUEZ)

At least two persons have been confirmed dead after a gunman opened fire at a popular bar in the central Israeli city of Tel Aviv on New year’s day.

Two persons were taken to surgery moments after the attacks while five others were injured – three in moderate condition and two with light injuries.

Eyewitnesses said the gunman fired into at least three establishments in the area — a bar, a restaurant and a cafe, and then fled. One of the cafe staffers said several people chased after him “but he disappeared” into a side-street.

Israel knows the identity of the killer, and believes he was carrying out a “nationalistic terror” attack, TV news reports said Friday evening. But a relative, Sami Milhem, who has also served as the suspect’s lawyer, said later he was “not of sound mind,” and noted that his father is a police volunteer, Times of Israel reports.

According to the police, the gunman, 29, is an Arab from the village of Arara in the Wadi Ara area of northern Israel. And his father recognized him from security footage of the attack, and called the police.

Local media reports that the killer, who had served a five-year jail term for attacking a soldier with a screwdriver and attempting to grab is gun, was acting out of “Islamist” motives.

However, the police are yet to determine whether the attack was nationalistic or criminal in nature..