IDF captures terrorist who stabbed IDF reservist
Security forces arrest 19-year-old Palestinian who carried out a terror attack outside Samaria Territorial Brigade base on Thursday, which left two people wounded; Defense Minister Lieberman praises capture and warns 'abominable murderer' from Barkan attack that same fate awaits him as well.
The 19-year-old Palestinian from the village of Jamma'in south of Nablus, was taken in by the Shin Bet for further interrogation.
On Thursday morning, the terrorist stabbed the reservist, 32, who was standing at a bus stop. Soldiers and passersby then tried unsuccessfully to overcome the terrorist.
Soldiers who were on the scene opened fire toward the fleeing terrorist, but he was able to escape. The soldiers' fire hit several nearby vehicles, and shrapnel from the shooting lightly wounded a woman from Elon Moreh.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman addressed on Friday the capture of the terrorist via his official Twitter account.
"An exceptional intelligence and operational work resulted in the capture of the terrorist. This allows us to redirect all the efforts into capturing the abominable murderer from the Barkan attack, with whom, we will settle the score soon as well,” he wrote on social media, referring to the manhunt for the perpetrator who shot dead Kim Levengrond Yehezkel and Ziv Hagbi at the Alon recycling factory last week.
The IDF said in a statement that the forces are still in pursuit of Ashraf Na'alwa, who carried out the attack in the Barkan industrial area.
The statement added that a number of suspects had been arrested in connection with the Barkan attack in the area of the Menashe Regional Brigade. In addition, during the search for illegal weapons conducted by the IDF and Border Police in the village of al-Benyamin, a gun had been found.
Dr. Ram Sagi, deputy director of the Beilinson Hospital at the Rabin Medical Center in Petrah Tikva—where the wounded had been evacuated, said that the soldier “was fully conscious” and was suffering from stabbing wounds to the face and the upper body. He added that the civilian woman was lightly wounded and “was suffering from a stab wound to her lower back."
Head of the Shomron Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, urged the prime minister to make the security of those living in the West Bank area his highest priority.
"There are half a million citizens living in the West Bank. We are entitled to security like any other place in the country. I call on the prime minister to instruct the IDF today to carry out reprisals against the terror bases belonging to the Palestinian Authority," he vented.
On Thursday evening, Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the recent surge of terror incidents in the West Bank.
“Regarding the West Bank, we are determined to act against terror everywhere, to find the murderers, to find the terrorists,” he said aboard the US navy warship in the Port of Ashdod.
