Two dead in pair of shootings in Arab towns

Hussein Abu-Ra'ad, 23, and a Kafr Qasem resident, 20, killed overnight by unknown assailants

Illustrative photo of Israeli police cars (Moti Karelitz/Flash90)

Two separate shooting incidents left two dead, one wounded overnight Thursday in the Arab Israeli towns of Kafr Qasem and Umm al-Fahm.

In Umm al-Fahm, two men were shot at a late Thursday wedding celebration. One victim, 23-year-old Hussein Abu-Ra’ad, was pronounced dead by doctors shortly after his arrival at Haemek Hospital in nearby Afula.

The other victim in the attack, identified as a 28-year-old man, was moderately hurt. He is hospitalized at Haemek.

The shooter fled the scene. Police have launched a manhunt for him in the area.

A few hours later, in the early morning hours of Friday, a 20-year-old man was shot dead by an unknown assailant near the entrance to Kafr Qasem, east of Tel Aviv.

The Kafr Qasem shooter, too, fled the scene.

Initial police assessments said both incidents were being treated as criminal events, not terror attacks.

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