Jersey City gunmen targeted Jewish grocery for lethal attack - mayor

Police officers use vehicles for protection during a shootout in Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S. December 10, 2019 in this still image obtained from a social media video. @GABRIELANGELVALLE /via REUTERS

(Reuters) - Police in the New York metropolitan area were put on high alert to protect Jewish neighbourhoods after an hours-long gunbattle with two men around a Jersey City kosher market that killed six people, authorities said.

The police shoot-out with two men armed with high-powered rifles erupted after midday on Tuesday in Jersey City, New Jersey's second-largest municipality directly across the Hudson River from Manhattan. The six dead included three civilians, one police officer and both gunmen, authorities said.