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An Islamic Jihad member, wanted for planning a November bus bombing in Tel Aviv, was killed yesterday following an exchange of fire with Israeli troops in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Ma’an news agency named the man as 24-year-old Mohammed Assi and reported he was a member of the Islamic Jihad. Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that an “important operation” had been carried out and that Assi “was responsible for a terror attack in Tel Aviv… in which 29 Israelis were injured on a bus.” The bus bombing took place last November on the final day of Operation Pillar of Defence, in which Israeli forces attempted to halt rocket fire from the Gaza Strip targeting Israeli population centers.

Assi was the last of those suspected to have planned the bombing who had evaded capture. Two additional suspects, also Islamic Jihad members, were arrested on Monday. The Shin Bet security agency had reportedly spent months tracking Assi and finally pinpointed a cave near Bil’in where he had been hiding. When Israeli forces attempted to apprehend him yesterday, they came under fire and killed Assi.

Defence Minister Ya’alon yesterday noted a recent spike in incidents in the West Bank which have left Israelis either dead or injured, including a man who was bludgeoned to death in the Jordan Valley and a nine-year-old girl was shot by an assailant just outside her home in Psagot. He said, “We view this with grave severity, and it may be [due to]… the incitement by the Palestinian Authority, the recent religious events or any other reason.” However, Ya’alon added, “There is no indication of a renewed popular resistance or third intifada.”