Palestinian teenager shot dead in Jerusalem after stabbing Israeli policeman

Soldiers later shot another teenager who threw a fire bomb at an army post

Israeli border police on patrol in Jerusalem's Old City as Palestinians walk to Al Aqsa Mosque compound for prayers on Sunday. AP

A Palestinian aged 19 stabbed and wounded an Israeli policeman in Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday and was then killed when officers fired at him.

Later in the day, Israeli soldiers shot another Palestinian teenager who threw a fire bomb at an army post outside Jerusalem, said a military representative. Palestinian officials identified him Yamen Jafal, 16, who later died of his wounds.

In the first attack, the 19-year-old walked up to two officers who were stationed at one of the gates of the walled Old City, “pulled out a knife and stabbed one of them”, a police official said.

A second police officer was wounded in the incident and both were removed from the scene “for medical treatment”, police said.

Other policemen nearby “responded by firing at him and neutralised the terrorist".

Two officers were lightly wounded, police said, one by the stabbing and one during the gunfire. A picture distributed by the police showed a knife on the ground next to a bloodstain.

Palestinian officials did not immediately comment.

In the second attack, Yamen was killed by Israeli soldiers after he attacked troops with a Molotov cocktail, the army said.

Israeli soldiers “acted to stop the attack by firing at one of the suspects”, who was “hit and later succumbed to his wounds” in the attack near Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, said the army. Another person involved in the attack escaped.

The Palestinian health ministry said Yamen was shot dead “by the occupation forces".

Lone wolf knife attacks against Israeli security forces are common in the Old City and the occupied West Bank.

The Bab Huta Gate where the attack occurred leads to Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site, where violence erupted last May after Israeli police stormed the compound in response to worshippers throwing rocks and explosives.

Israel captured East Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognised internationally.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, who want it as a capital of a future state, broke down in 2014.

Reporting by agencies