March 6, 2008 | 2:11 pm

At least eight killed at Jerusalem yeshiva

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Magen David Adom have confirmed 10 wounded civilians, including three seriously. One terrorist was said to have been killed by a student.

Witnesses said that only one terrorist had entered the building and that he managed to fire 500-600 bullets over the course of 4-10 minutes before he was killed.

Although witnesses said only a single terrorist carried out the attack, police were searching the building for an additional terrorist, preventing the entrance of rescue workers. Later Police Chief David Cohen confirmed that there were no additional attackers.

The terrorist entered the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva in the neighborhood of Kiryat Moshe carrying weapons. He was not wearing a suicide-bomb belt as earlier reported.

The gunman entered the library where about 80 people were gathered, witnesses said, and opened fire.

Yitzhak Dadon, a student, said he was armed with a rifle and waited on the roof of a nearby building. “He came out of the library spraying automatic fire ... the terrorist came to the entrance and I shot him twice in the head,” he said.

Approximately 50 ambulances were sent to the scene and a 16-year-old boy in serious condition and suffering from chest wounds was seen being evacuated from the scene.

“It’s very sad tonight in Jerusalem - many people were killed in the heart of Jerusalem,” Mayor Uri Lupolianski told Channel 2,

“We bless the (Jerusalem) operation. It will not be the last,” Hamas said in a statement.

This terrorist attack, which was likely retaliation for last weekend’s incursion into Gaza, was the first in Jerusalem since early 2004. It is not going to help those peace talks that ostensibly were about to resume.

(Photo: AP)