Tel Aviv shooting: CCTV video 'shows moment gunman opens fire on busy bar'

Police say a massive manhunt was under way for the shooter after two people were killed in the attack

CCTV footage has emerged purporting to show the moment a gunman opened fire on a busy bar in Tel Aviv.

Israeli police said the New Year's Day shooting killed at least two people, with another two in serious condition in hospital.

Five were wounded in all when a gunman, wielding what appears to be a mini-Uzi submachine gun, sprayed bullets at a group of drinkers.

Separate CCTV aired by the Israli Channel 10 TV station appeared to show a man with short hair and glasses buying some cashew nuts at a nearby shop before walking outside and opening fire on the bar, after which he runs away.

The station said the shooter had fired around 30 shots, and that he had left a spent magazine on the ground at the scene.

Channel 10 and other Israeli media later claimed the attacker’s identity had been discovered. The TV station’s defence analyst, Alon Ben-David, said the gunman was an Israeli Arab, and the attacker’s father had seen his son on TV and notified the authorities.

Ben-David commented that his calm demeanour and the way he was holding and shooting the gun show he was well trained. A copy of the Koran was found later in the attacker’s bag, he claimed.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said a manhunt had been launched to find the assailant, with large numbers of police deployed to the scene and officers going from house to house in the area.

Tel Aviv's mayor, Ron Huldai, has visited the wounded in hospital and said "lessons would be learned" to improve security after the incident.

Speaking later at the scene, he said the incident "appears to be a terrorist attack". "Friends were celebrating a birthday and a man opened fire at them from the outside," he said.

One eye witness told the Times of Israel the man "smiled" before he pulled out the gun and started firing.

And speaking to Reuters, the bar's owner Nati Shakked said the assailant appeared to have waited for the place to get busier before taking a gun out of a bag and "shooting in every direction".

"It was a terrorist attack, without a doubt," Shakked told Israel's Channel Two television

Additonal rerpoting by agencies