Jerusalem police said Sunday that the two gunmen who were killed after opening fire at an Israeli security post on Saturday night were Arab residents of Jerusalem.

The two assailants, who were shot dead by two Israeli security personnel after wounding them, were identified Sunday as Madchat Mohammed Shakirat, 23, and Mahmoud Naji Halaseh, 23, both of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Jebl Mukaber. Police had previously identified the two gunmen as Palestinians.

The attackers, who were affiliated with an offshoot of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement, carried blue Israeli ID cards, Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.

Meanwhile, police said Sunday that they were checking whether an Arab bystander killed in the shootout - identified Sunday as Anas Mohammed Awasit, 19, also of Jebl Mukabber - had been involved in the attack.

The two gunmen opened fire at an Israeli security patrol shortly after 8:00 p.m. on Saturday night near the separation barrier on the edge of Jerusalem, and wounded two security officials - one seriously - police and rescue officials said.

The two were taken to Jerusalem’s Hadassah-University Hospital at Ein Kerem. On Sunday, their condition improved, and they were listed in stable condition.

The shooting attack took place during a routine patrol in the Arab village of Sheikh Said, adjacent to the Jewish neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv on the southeastern rim of the city. The two assailants made their way on foot to the area under cover of darkness, ambushed the patrol, and then tried to flee, Ben-Ruby said.

A Magen David Adom spokesman said one of the Israeli security men, 26, had been shot in

the chest and was in serious condition, while the other was in moderate condition after sustaining wounds to his limbs.

A police helicopter searched for accomplices for several hours after the attack.

The security barrier around Jerusalem is meant to keep Palestinian suicide bombers from entering the city. Over the last two years, there have been no suicide bombings in the city, and shooting attacks have become very rare. The vast majority of Jerusalem’s 245,000 Arab residents - who receive an array of social services, including health care, unemployment and social security benefits from Israel - have remained on the sidelines of violence over the last five years, preferring to focus on their coveted city jobs.

However, most of the major suicide bombings in the city over the last several years have been carried out with the help of local Arab accomplices whose freedom of movement proved invaluable to Palestinian terror organizations.

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