An IDF force killed a Arab terrorist Thursday afternoon after he opened fire at soldiers at the Anabta checkpoint near Tulkarem, east of Netanya. On his body was found an explosives vest, with which it is assumed he was planning to blow himself up in the vicinity of soldiers.
Apparently on his way to a suicide attack, the dead terrorist was also armed with a Kalachnikov rifle. Border Guard sappers arrived on the scene and neutralized the explosives he was wearing. They also found several explosive devices in his vehicle. No soldiers were hurt in the incident.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the failed attack and identified the terrorist as Muhammad Omer Mahmud Diab, who had been wanted by Israel.
Some 14 hours earlier, Israel suffered its only military casualty of this year. Sgt. Arbel Reich, 21, of Yovelim in the Upper Galilee was killed in a clash with Gaza terrorists in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. He will be laid to rest at 11 AM on Friday. Two terrorists were wounded in the battles, as the Israel Air Force attacked terrorist targets.
Israel has lost seven others to terrorism this year: Three in a suicide bombing in an Eilat bakery in January, Erez Levanon of Bat Ayin, who was brutally stabbed to death near his home in Gush Etzion in February, and three civilians who were killed in Kassam attacks in Sderot.
A Kassam rocket was launched at Sderot on Tuesday night, and another one this afternoon (Thursday); no one was hurt.