The recent murders in Lod may all be linked and could have been committed by hired assassins, Army Radio reported on Wednesday. The report said that the main suspects are two brothers from Ramle, aged 26 and 24.There have been three murders in the city in the last month; the latest occurred when a woman was fatally shot on Tuesday night.RELATED:The murderous culmination of decades of neglectEditorial: Lessons from LodA day after the murder of a mother of four, Abir Abu-Katifu, police in Lod arrested five suspects, including her husband, who may have been involved in the incident.In addition to the Ramle brothers, Katifu's brother-in-law and another relative were also arrested.Police suspect the murder was part of an honor killing within the family. The five suspects will be investigated and be brought to a Ramle court for a remand extension hearing.Katifu was gunned down as she entered her vehicle near her home on Tuesday night. She was rushed by unknown individuals to the Assaf Harofeh Hospital in Tzriffin, where doctors pronounced her dead. Those who brought the woman to hospital left without being identified.
Large numbers of police were mobilized to the scene and a homicide investigation has been launched.
The shooting is not only the third homicide in Lod this month, but the thirteenth murder in two years.
Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch had recently deployed large numbers of Border Police to Lod in an effort to quell the growing violence in the city following a spate of shootings.
Earlier this month, a 27-year-old mother of three was shot dead from close range in her car before her two young children.
A 48-year-old man was also shot dead this month in his car before his daughter near city hall.