Palestinian shot dead trying to stab Israeli police officer

Israeli security forces shot dead a Palestinian who tried to stab a border police officer in the West Bank on Monday, authorities said, in the fourth such incident in a week.

The Palestinian approached a checkpoint at the Tapuah Junction near Nablus claiming he was sick, then attempted to stab the officer, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement.

"Another border policeman saw it and shot the assailant" who was killed on the spot, she said in a statement.

The Israeli officer targeted with the knife was lightly injured, authorities said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed the death and said an ambulance had been prevented from approaching the area, which the army cordoned off before handing over the body in a military ambulance.

In two similar attacks Saturday, Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian who stabbed a border policeman in the northern West Bank, hours after another Palestinian who stabbed a soldier near a checkpoint in the occupied territory was shot and wounded.

On August 9, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian who stabbed and lightly injured an Israeli civilian at a petrol station.

Tensions have soared in the West Bank in recent weeks in the wake of the deadly firebombing of a Palestinian home, attributed to Jewish extremists.

An 18-month-old boy was killed in the July 31 arson attack in the West Bank village of Duma and days later his father died in hospital from horrific burns over 80 percent of his body.
Source: AFP