Judea and Samaria Border Patrol forces setting up a barricade near their base arrested a knife-carrying terrorist Monday night who intended to stab them.
The forces called to the terrorist, a resident of Qalqilya in his late 20s, ordering him to stop in place in order to conduct a security check on him. The suspect, however, ignored the soldiers' instructions to identify himself.
Instead, he pulled a knife out from his jacket just a short distance from the forces.
Within moments, a patrolman, who witnessed the suspect pulling out his knife, hit the terrorist hard in the upper body with his personal weapon.
The knife fell to the ground and the suspect froze.
Other patrolmen then came to apprehend the suspect, who remained unresponsive. He did not listen to the Border Patrol forces' instructions and continued to stand motionless in place.
The patrolmen cocked their weapons and shouted at the suspect to strip off his clothing and lay down on the ground.
When the terrorist once again reached into his coat pocket, a soldier fired a rubber bullet into the air as a warning.
This action spurred the suspect to obey the troops' instructions, and he was finally arrested and handcuffed by patrolmen, who then searched his body. He was subsequently taken to the Kedumim police station for interrogation.
The commander of the Border Patrol's Judea and Samaria District, Brigadier General Uzi Levy, said of the incident: "We're witnessing repeated attempts to harm security forces."
"In this case, like in others, the soldiers' vigilance and professionalism prevented the incident from becoming worse and led to the arrest of the attacker before he could complete his mission."