A Palestinian woman detonated an explosive device in her car, seriously injuring herself and an Israeli police officer who stopped her as she neared a Jerusalem-area checkpoint, The Times of Israel reported today.
Police said officers noticed a suspicious vehicle driven by a woman heading toward a checkpoint on the way to Jerusalem and signaled to her to stop. The woman then yelled “Allahu Akbar” (God is most great) and set off the explosive detonator in her car, a police statement said. A gas canister in her car did not explode, however.
Handwritten slips of paper voicing support for “Palestinian martyrs” were found on her person, the Shin Bet said.
The police officer who stopped the woman was lightly injured, while she was severely injured in the explosion. She was taken to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem neighborhood for treatment.
The police officer who confronted the terrorist and was injured in the explosion was identified as Sergeant Major Moshe Chen.
#HeroPoliceman #SpeaksAfterAttempted Suicide Bombing #Maj #MosheChen http://t.co/oXuYmfSo8U pic.twitter.com/ZRQKMIqljd
— Terrorism Updates (@terrorism_info) October 11, 2015
Later in the day, the Times reported that four Israelis were injured, one critically, in a stabbing attack near the northern city of Hadera.
The terrorist, a 20-year-old Israeli Arab from Umm al-Fahm, was arrested by police at the scene. He was also injured in the attack, the second on Israelis on Sunday.
According to Army Radio, the attacker first ran over the 19-year-old woman, before getting out of the car and stabbing her and the three other victims.
Two other victims, a 14-year-old girl with moderate wounds and 20-year-old man who was lightly hurt both arrived at the hospital on their own. A 45-year-old man also sustained hand wounds in the attack.
According to the Times, the suspect may have had an accomplice who escaped with a gun belonging to one of the victims.
Today’s attacks are the latest in a wave of Palestinian terrorism that included multiple stabbings and a fatal drive-by shooting, which saw a couple killed in front of their four children. Israeli officials have attributed the violence to incitement by Palestinian officials, who have failed to condemn these attacks and have conversely criticized Israel for shooting two of the Palestinian assailants. Yesterday, Ynet reported that Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, was distributing official flyers that praised several of the Palestinian terrorists.
[Photo: Haaretz.com / YouTube ]