Sergeant S., a Border Police officer, recounted the terrorist attack on the IDF's Salem base in northern Samaria on Friday.
“One of the terrorists stood in front of me, barely six meters away, shooting and firing with a look of murder in his eyes. I shouted for the crew to take cover and fired at the terrorist in front of me. I said to myself, 'It's either me or him who will get out of this alive,'" S. told Yediot Ahronot.
''Bullets whistled over our heads and were stopped at the concrete barricade. I saw the driver of one of the minibuses bending down with his hands on his head and during the shootout I thought 'please don't let me hit him'. It felt like an eternity, but it all happened quickly.
S. described: '' I still see in front of me the look of the terrorist and constantly think what if G-d forbid it had ended differently. It's good that we kept alert and quick to respond, that's exactly how we were taught. We prevented a major attack, that's what we enlisted for."
A preliminary investigation into the attempted attack revealed that the three terrorists were residents of the Tulkarm area in their early 20s, with no prior security background. All three terrorists were killed in the shootout.
The terrorists had been on a bus which was illegally ferrying Arabs into Israel. When Border Police stopped the bus near the Salem base, the terrorists opened fire on them using Carlo submachine guns.
Investigators believe the terrorists intended to carry out an attack in Jerusalem before they were stopped. The driver, an Israeli Arab, did not realize that several of his passengers were terrorists.
The terrorists apparently crossed the separation fence from the Jenin area or at the foot crossing leading towards the military court in Salem. They opened fire on the base and Border Police soldiers fired at them and neutralized them.