Israel college massacre condemned

A man armed with an assault rifle and a pistol opened fire in the library of the Mercaz Harav rabbinical college, where around 80 students had gathered for a party.

Nine people are thought to have been wounded in the attack, two seriously, according to Israeli officials.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he had spoken to his Israeli counterpart and passed on his condolences.

"The reports of killings at a seminary in Jerusalem are shocking," he said. "They are an arrow aimed at the heart of the peace process so recently revived. They should and will be deplored by all decent people everywhere."

The incident is the first militant attack in the Israeli capital in more than four years, and though no-one has claimed responsibility, Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip praised the operation, while thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of Gaza to celebrate.

Mr Miliband said: "The only way to honour the memory of those who have died is to build a Middle East free from the power of the gun through a political process in which the peaceful majority drive out the murderous minority."

Conservative leader David Cameron said: "I utterly condemn the appalling terrorist attack that has taken place this evening in Jerusalem. I send my profound condolences to the families and friends of all of those who have been killed, and to those who have been injured."

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas condemned the killings, which came on the same day as Egyptian officials were trying to mediate a truce between Palestinian militants and Israel.

US president George Bush said: "I condemn in the strongest possible terms the terrorist attack in Jerusalem that targeted innocent students. This barbaric and vicious attack on innocent civilians deserves the condemnation of every nation."