Israeli Judge Murdered, Terrorists Claim Responsibility

Israeli Judge Shot Dead, Palestinians Claim Attack

An Israeli judge was found shot dead in a car near his home outside Tel Aviv on Monday and a Palestinian militant group claimed responsibility.

Justice Minister Yosef Lapid reported the killing in Israel's parliament but said it was not known who targeted the judge, identified by Israeli media as 49-year-old Adi Azar. Police said criminal motives were not being ruled out.

Local media said Azar was shot at close range three times in his upper body in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Hasharon.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility in a phone call to Reuters in the West Bank.

The caller said Azar was shot for suggesting that the Palestinian Authority be fined for suicide bomb attacks on Israelis, and also in revenge for the slaying of senior Hizbollah guerrilla Ghalib Awali in a Beirut bombing Monday.