Two Stabbing Attacks Thwarted in Chevron, Maaleh Shomron

Alert soldiers on Sunday prevented two stabbing attacks in Yehudah and Shomron. In one attack, the female perpetrator realized that soldiers had spotted her and dropped the knife she had planned to use to stab them; in another, a woman who planned a similar attack at Me’aras Hamachpelah was nabbed before she could carry it out.

The earlier incident occurred near the central Shomron town of Maaleh Shomron, where an access road to the town runs parallel to a field that is part of the neighboring Arab village of Azzun. The female terrorist managed to cross a fence separating the access road from the field, at a curve in the road where IDF soldiers are generally posted to prevent terrorists from infiltrating the Jewish towns in the area, including Maaleh Shomron and Karnei Shomron.

According to soldiers, the female terrorist attempted to sneak across the field and climb the fence, but when she realized soldiers were observing her, she dropped a large knife and tried to run back to Azzun. With the help of a security team from Maaleh Shomron, the soldiers subdued her, and she was taken in for questioning.

Meanwhile, in Chevron, a female terrorist attempted to attack a group of IDF soldiers stationed outside Me’aras Hamachpelah. She approached the soldiers and was asked to allow them to check her belongings, at which point they discovered a knife. Soldiers immediately took her into custody.

Also Sunday morning, a police officer was injured in a rock throwing attack on Road 35, west of Chevron. Arabs threw stones at a passing police van and one rock penetrated the vehicle’s windshield, shattering it and lightly injuring the officer. The officer was treated at the scene and then taken to Yerushalayim for further treatment.

Earlier Sunday, an IDF soldier was injured in a stabbing attack near the Central Bus Station in Yerushalayim. Rescue personnel treated the soldier at the scene and whisked him away to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital for further treatment. A security guard stationed near the site of the attack wrestled the terrorist to the ground, subduing and injuring him, and holding him until police came to arrest him.

The 30-year-old terrorist, officials said, was a resident of the Yerushalayim neighborhood of Azariya, and had a permit to travel freely throughout Yerushalayim.