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Palestinian officer wounds three Israeli soldiers at West Bank checkpoint
Three Israeli soldiers were injured yesterday, one seriously, when a Palestinian man, who turned out to be a member of the Palestinian Authority (PA) security services, opened fire on them at a West Bank checkpoint.
The attack happened yesterday afternoon at a checkpoint near the West Bank settlement of Beit El, close to the Palestinian city of Ramallah. The assailant, 35-year-old Amjad Sakari, is a police officer in the Palestinian security forces and worked as a bodyguard for the PA prosecutor-general in Ramallah, Ahmed Hanoun.
Sakari drove up to the checkpoint and when asked for identification, exited the car and opened fire with a handgun. Three soldiers were injured and evacuated to hospitals in Jerusalem, one with serious injuries to his upper body. Sakari was shot dead at the scene. An IDF statement said, “Forces at the scene responded to the attack and shot the assailant.”
It was the second time that a PA security services officer had attacked Israelis since the current wave of violence began in October. 37-year-old Mazen Hassan Areiba, a PA intelligence officer, shot and wounded two Israelis at a checkpoint near Jerusalem in December. In total, at least 28 Israelis have been killed in near-daily attacks by Palestinians, mainly stabbings and vehicle ramming, during the current unrest.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised PA President Mahmoud Abbas for failing to condemn yesterday’s attack, perpetrated by one of his own security officers. Netanyahu said that the PA “stands behind the incitement that stokes the terrorist attacks” and called on the international community to “do everything it its power to pressure the Palestinian Authority to cease its incitement against Israel.”
Also yesterday, Israeli soldiers thwarted an attempted vehicle ramming attack at the Maccabim checkpoint on the 443 motorway near Modi’in. Troops opened fire at the speeding car and the attacker was wounded. Meanwhile, this morning a Palestinian man was shot dead as he tried to stab soldiers near the West Bank community of Sal’it.