BICOM

A 32-year-old Israeli man was killed by a Palestinian at the Tapuach Junction in the northern West Bank this morning.

The man was waiting for a lift at a hitchhiking post at the junction when his attacker, who was armed with a knife, seized a gun from his victim. Initial reports are unclear whether the man was stabbed or shot by the Palestinian attacker. However, all say that he then opened fire on nearby Israeli Border Guards officers who returned fire, moderately wounding the assailant, who is being treated at the Rabin Medical Centre in Petach Tikva. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene after resuscitation attempts failed.

A spokesman for the Border Guards told the YNet news site, “A terrorist armed with a knife attacked a settler at the hitchhiking post and critically injured him. He apparently snatched the victim’s weapon and fired at a Border Guard force positioned nearby. The Border Guard officers returned fire and neutralized the terrorist.”

The Tapuach Junction is situated near the major Israeli West Bank city of Ariel and has been the scene of terrorist attacks and activity before. In January, a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli teenager there, while an IDF soldier was also stabbed to death at the junction in February 2010. Border Police arrested five Palestinians in the area last May, after they were found to be in possession of more than eleven pipe bombs, several Molotov cocktails, a pistol and ammunition.