BICOM

A car being driven by an Israeli man in his fifties came under fire last night in the West Bank, in the latest incident since a wave of terror attacks began in October.

The shooting happened near the settlement of Dolev, close to Ramallah. Although the driver was unhurt, he was treated for anxiety and his car was pocketed with several bullet holes, thought to be from an M16 rifle. Israeli soldiers launched a search in the area for the attacker. There have been several deadly roadside shootings in the West Bank during the last several months, which have seen near-daily attacks carried out by Palestinians, resulting in the deaths of at least 27 Israelis.

Meanwhile, on Saturday a 13-year-old Palestinian girl attempted to stab an Israeli security guard outside a West Bank settlement and was shot dead. The teenager reportedly brandished a knife and tried to stab a security guard at the entrance to Anatot, near Jerusalem. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said, “She had a knife and intended to die … The guard opened fire, gravely wounding her and medics pronounced her dead shortly afterward.” The girl was later named as Roqaya Abu-Eid from the nearby village of Anata. She is thought to have fought with her family about her intended actions, before leaving to carry out the attack.

Also on Saturday, a Palestinian man in East Jerusalem is reported to have been killed, when the explosive device he was carrying detonated. He is thought to have intended to attack Israeli Border Police in the neighbourhood of Abu Dis.

On Friday, Israeli security forces, acting on intelligence from the Shin Bet agency, arrested three members of a terror cell near the West Bank city of Tulkarm, who are suspected of carrying out a shooting attack last week which injured an IDF soldier. One of the suspects, 32-year-old Ala Barkawi, who works in the Palestinian Authority’s General Intelligence Service, is thought to have aided the gunmen and concealed the weapon.