Lieutenant Colonel S., an officer in the engineering and construction department of the Defense Ministry, captured the terrorist who carried out the stabbing attack in Petah Tikva this afternoon (Monday).
"My vehicle was standing at a red light when suddenly I heard a commotion and saw people chasing a suspect and shouting 'terrorist, terrorist,'" the officer reported.
"I began to chase in my car, the terrorist fled to a side street and tried to enter a private house, but the gate was locked, and I bumped into a garbage container that hit him and knocked him to the ground."
The Defense Ministry praised Lieutenant Colonel S. for his prompt response in capturing the terrorist and preventing injury to additional people.
Another civilian, working in a nearby pizzeria, assisted in capturing the terrorist: "I saw the terrorist running in my direction and trying to enter the store," he said, "I prevented him from entering by throwing a pizza tray at his head."
The attacker, a 21-year-old infiltrator who resides in Qalqiliya, stabbed an Egged driver at a shawarma restaurant in the center of Petah Tikva.The injured man, 35, from the Arab town Arara, is hospitalized in Beilinson Hospital in moderate condition suffering from a stab wound to his neck and upper body.
Upon his arrest, the terrorist said that he stabbed the man "for the sake of Al-Aqsa."The Shin Bet security service said that the attacker had been imprisoned in the years 2015-6. He was interrogated by the Shin Bet.
The police and defense establishment estimate that the attack was nationalistic in motivation.