Israeli police killed in a shootout on Friday an Arab citizen wanted for a Jan. 1 gun rampage in Tel Aviv, the security services said, ending a week-long manhunt but not the public mystery over what motivated his attack. Israeli media showed pictures of Nashat Melhem's body, with a submachine gun next to it, outside what they said was a mosque in his northern hometown where he was hiding from authorities. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement congratulated the security forces, who he said had "worked tirelessly, methodically and professionally to locate and eliminate the terrorist." Police said in a statement that a special forces team closed in on a building in his hometown of Arara, in northern Israel, killing him when he stormed out, shooting at them. There were no police casualties in the incident. Melhem, whose age police gave as 31, was identified by relatives from CCTV footage of the Tel Aviv attack, where he was accused of killing two people in a central restaurant and a taxi driver whose vehicle he used to escape. He had previously spent four years in prison for assaulting an Israeli soldier, said his lawyer, who also described Melhem as mentally unstable. Israeli media said that Melhem had been located in part thanks to the interrogation of five people arrested on suspicion of being his accomplices and having ISIS links. Israeli authorities did not immediately comment on those reports.
