Three soldiers were killed in the gas station outside Ariel late this morning when a human bomb blew himself up close to a group of soldiers. The Palestinian terrorist was spotted before the explosion, some soldiers wrestled with him, and one or two even shot him - but he still managed to detonate his bomb. Other accounts say that the soldiers' shots blew up the explosives, or that they went off when he hit the ground; an army investigation is underway. Police officials said that an even larger tragedy was averted by the alertness of guards in the area.
One eyewitness in a car said that he saw five soldiers "jumping on someone, and people started yelling and arguing, 'Kill him! Don’t kill him!' It took about a minute and a half, [a bunch of soldiers] had their rifles out... They tried to get the terrorist away, to get his arms in the air [away from the detonator switch], and finally one of them shot from a meter away, and then there was an explosion. All my car windows blew out onto me - it was horrific." Another eyewitness said that the terrorist blew himself up some 15 meters from the gas pumps, and that his body caught fire, which bystanders quickly extinguished. About 20 people were wounded, including three who are listed in serious condition.
Ariel, one of the largest towns in Yesha with about 20,000 residents, is located in central Shomron, less than 20 miles east of Tel Aviv. The murderer was later reported to be a 19-year-old resident of Shechem, about eight miles northeast of Ariel. Arutz-7's Kobi Finkler reported today in the name of IDF sources that the attack was enabled by the decision to ease security measures in the vicinity, and that "each time security measures are eased, it is exploited by the Palestinians for terrorist attacks."
A local IDF commander said that there had been no intelligence warnings of an attack in the region: "There were three guards here and they identified him beforehand, but we were unable to prevent the attack. It's a question of a second between success and failure." Warnings of attacks and infiltrations in the area along the Green Line actually intensified this afternoon.
Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman said that he had told Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, after a suicide bomber wounded ten people when he blew himself up in the Eshel HaShomron hotel adjacent to the gas station seven months ago, that another attack in that spot was likely. He said that he requested a fence around the entire area, "but Ben-Eliezer turned me down."
One eyewitness in a car said that he saw five soldiers "jumping on someone, and people started yelling and arguing, 'Kill him! Don’t kill him!' It took about a minute and a half, [a bunch of soldiers] had their rifles out... They tried to get the terrorist away, to get his arms in the air [away from the detonator switch], and finally one of them shot from a meter away, and then there was an explosion. All my car windows blew out onto me - it was horrific." Another eyewitness said that the terrorist blew himself up some 15 meters from the gas pumps, and that his body caught fire, which bystanders quickly extinguished. About 20 people were wounded, including three who are listed in serious condition.
Ariel, one of the largest towns in Yesha with about 20,000 residents, is located in central Shomron, less than 20 miles east of Tel Aviv. The murderer was later reported to be a 19-year-old resident of Shechem, about eight miles northeast of Ariel. Arutz-7's Kobi Finkler reported today in the name of IDF sources that the attack was enabled by the decision to ease security measures in the vicinity, and that "each time security measures are eased, it is exploited by the Palestinians for terrorist attacks."
A local IDF commander said that there had been no intelligence warnings of an attack in the region: "There were three guards here and they identified him beforehand, but we were unable to prevent the attack. It's a question of a second between success and failure." Warnings of attacks and infiltrations in the area along the Green Line actually intensified this afternoon.
Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman said that he had told Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, after a suicide bomber wounded ten people when he blew himself up in the Eshel HaShomron hotel adjacent to the gas station seven months ago, that another attack in that spot was likely. He said that he requested a fence around the entire area, "but Ben-Eliezer turned me down."