IS sympathizer shoots cop in chilling ambush

(MENAFN- Arab Times) A man claiming allegiance to the Islamic State extremist group shot and seriously wounded a police officer in Philadelphia, opening fire multiple times at point-blank range with a stolen police gun before he was arrested, officials said Friday.

The apparent assassination attempt comes amid heightened security - and paranoia - in the United States following last month's assault by a radicalized Muslim couple in California that killed 14 people, and the November terror attacks in Paris. Policeman Jesse Hartnett, 33, was shot three times in his left arm as he sat in his patrol car late Thursday in the northeastern city. "I'm shot. I'm bleeding heavily," he yelled in a dispatch call.