Israel hunts Palestinian shooter in connection with killing of female soldier

Israeli police arrested at least three Palestinian suspects Sunday in connection with a deadly shooting at a Jerusalem checkpoint, as security forces searched for the suspected gunman.

The shooter opened fire on a military checkpoint in East Jerusalem late Saturday, killing a female Israeli soldier and wounding three other soldiers, one of them seriously.

The Israeli military identified the soldier as 18-year-old Noa Lazar.

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It was the latest bloodshed in the deadliest violence in the region in seven years.

It also came less than a day before Israel was to begin celebrating the weeklong Sukkot holiday, a time when tens of thousands of Jews visit the holy city.

Police said a large force of officers, soldiers and Shin Bet security agency operatives were involved in the search to apprehend the Palestinian attacker.

The attack came hours after two Palestinian teenagers were killed during an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank.

A day earlier, two other Palestinian teenagers, aged 14 and 17, were killed by Israeli fire in separate incidents elsewhere in the West Bank.

Rights groups accuse Israeli forces of using excessive force in their dealings with the Palestinians, particularly young men, without being held accountable.

The military says it contends with complex, life-threatening scenarios.

Read more: Israeli soldier wounded in east Jerusalem attack dies