Barkan killer identified as Ashraf Walid Suleiman Na'alwa
IDF Spokesperson’s Unit says house of 23-year-old terrorist, who shot dead two people in Alon Group recycling factory, has already been mapped; Palestinian source adds local security forces assist in manhunt due to assessment that perpetrator would rather surrender to Palestinian Authority.
Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 28, from Rosh HaAyin and Ziv Hagbi, 35, from Rishon LeZion were killed on the second floor of the Alon Group recycling factory by the 23-year-old Palestinian who was employed there for at least seven months.
The terrorist’s house is reported to have already been mapped ahead of its demolition.
The IDF forces continue the manhunt for the terrorist with the assistance from the Palestinian security forces.
A Palestinian security official told Ynet that the IDF assesses that the perpetrator would option to surrender to the local security forces rather than the Israeli ones.
“The assessment is that the terrorist will prefer to surrender himself to Palestinian security in order to escape possible death during an arrest attempt or out of belief that the Palestinian Authority would struggle to extradite him to Israel," stressed the source.
“There is full coordination between the security forces when it comes to the manhunt for the terrorist who carried out the Barkan attack.
The information collected at this stage is supposed to assist in tracing the terrorist’s movements from the moment of the incident to his current whereabouts,” he concluded.
The terrorist arrived at the factory, where he worked as an electrician, shortly after 7:30am. He hid the M-16 rifle he had brought with him under his clothes and apparently showed the security—at the industrial zone’s entrance, his work permit.
Na'alwa entered the factory through the main entrance. He went upstairs to fix an electrical malfunction on the second floor, noticed several employees, and decided to go back downstairs while simultaneously drawing a weapon.
According to one assessment, the terrorist took small handcuffs from the factory’s warehouse and then returned to the second floor to carry out the attack.
Upon reaching the second floor, where the factory’s offices are located, Na’alwa started running towards one of the victims, Kim Levengrond Yehezkel—a secretary who was sitting behind a table at the end of the corridor.
It is believed that once the terrorist caught up to the secretary, he put her in handcuffs and fatally shot her. IDF believes it is also possible that he had handcuffed Kim after shooting her in order to prevent her from calling for help.
The terrorist then started advancing towards the office of Ziv Hagbi—whom he subsequently shot dead as well. On his way out, the terrorist identified another employee, a 54-year-old woman, and fired in her direction, moderately wounding her.
The footage of the incident shows the terrorist escaping the factory by running down the stairs steps while holding the weapon and a backpack in hand.
Earlier, IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Ronen Manelis said despite the fact that the terrorist might have had additional motives for his crime, the incident is still being investigated as a terror attack.
"The terrorist might have had additional motives (which are not nationalistically motivated), but that doesn't change the fact this is a terror attack," he added.
The Border Police's counter terrorism special unit Yamam, the elite Duvdevan unit, the counterterrorism Lotar unit, and the IDF Oketz Unit, as well as Shin Bet forces and Central Command and West Bank Brigade soldiers, are taking part in the manhunt for the terrorist.
