Three men were killed in a highway shooting in central Israel Tuesday night, in an incident police said was linked to a blood feud between warring crime families.

The victims, in their mid-20s from the central Arab Israeli town of Tira, were in a car when assailants shot at them. They apparently tried to escape, and a chase developed until the victims lost control of their vehicle and collided with a bus driving on the highway near Sde Warburg. No injuries were reported on the bus, but the impact appeared to destroy half of the car and crush its passengers.

The three were without vital signs by the time firefighters managed to pull them from the vehicle. Paramedics declared them dead at the scene.

The Abraham Initiatives, which tracks Arab homicide victims, named them as Asil Kassem, Hadi Nassar, and Jubran Nassar.

Police forces launched a major manhunt for the perpetrators after reaching the scene and soon arrested three suspects, also from Tira.

“The triple homicide tonight should shock the entire country,” the Initiatives said in a statement.

According to the group, 32 members of the Arab community have died in violent crime since the beginning of the year.

“Arab citizens are being murdered en masse on the streets........

© The Times of Israel