Three killed in attack in Israel's Elad on country's Independence Day

Tel Aviv [Israel], May 6 : Three people were killed and four others left injured in central Israel's city of Elad on Thursday after an attack by two armed men carrying firearms and an axe, local media reported.
Two suspects armed with an axe and firearms arrived at the city's square and then moved to a local park. One attacker opened fire, while another started to hack at the victims with an axe, Sputnik reported citing Israeli broadcaster Channel 13.
As a result, three people were killed, and four more were injured, two of whom are in a serious condition, the report said.
Earlier in the day, it was reported by Israel's Channel 12 that six people were left injured, many of them in critical condition after an attack by a man armed with an axe and a knife, Sputnik reported.
It was also reported that the attacker was shot and killed by the authorities.
The local government has asked residents to lock themselves in their homes while the police are searching for a car that fled the scene, the report said.
"At this point, security crossings have been deployed on various roads, together with a helicopter, searching for a vehicle that was seen fleeing the scene," a police spokesperson told CNN.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that Thursday's attack appears to be "the latest in a what has been a string of despicable terrorist attacks that have rocked Israel in recent weeks," CNN reported.
"We saw them in advance of this holy period -- the confluence of Easter, of Passover, of Ramadan. We saw them in advance of the Negev Summit. And if this is what it appears to be, it is something that we would condemn in strongest terms," Price was quoted as saying.