Two bodies found inside a burnt car near Kafr Qasim, police investigating

Law enforcement believe men were shot dead in the vehicle before it was set alight; killing thought to be related to a fatal shooting that took place in the city in July

The bodies of two men were found Saturday night in a car that went up in flames in a forest near Kafr Qasim, an Arab city in central Israel, police said.

The two men were reportedly shot dead inside their car before the vehicle was set alight, the Haaretz news outlet reported. It was thought to be a revenge killing for the shooting of another man a few weeks ago in the city, according to the report.

The two slain men were named by the Abraham Initiatives organization, which tracks murder victims in Arab society, as Ayoub Issa, 35, and Lutfi Amer, 25.

Police from the Kafr Qasim station launched an investigation and transferred the two bodies to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute to be identified.

The vehicle was still ablaze by the time firefighters arrived. They discovered the bodies while working to extinguish the flames, which had spread to shrubbery in the forest.

“Firefighters identified a car fully engulfed in flames in the middle of the burning area. During firefighting operations and the search for casualties, two individuals were found inside the burning vehicle,” fire officials said.

Magen David Adom paramedics who arrived at the scene pronounced the two dead at the scene.

Since the start of the year, 161 Arab Israelis have been killed in violent incidents, amid a surging crime wave which has been plaguing Arab locales in recent years.

Earlier in the week, two young men were killed in separate shootings in and around Nazareth. Police arrested a suspect in one of the killings, in which a 19-year-old was suspected to have fatally shot 21-year-old Ahmad Hajj Odeh.

Police on Saturday night also opened an investigation into two grenade-throwing incidents in Ashdod, further south. One grenade went off in a parking lot and the other near the entrance to a residential building. No injuries were reported.

Police said they began collecting evidence and searching for those involved, adding that both incidents were likely connected to criminal disputes within the city.