Israel questions wife of Palestinian suspected of killing 2 soldiers

Israeli forces on Monday briefly held and questioned the wife of a Palestinian man suspected of carrying out a deadly terror attack earlier this month and set up roadblocks around his West Bank hometown as the search for him continued, the Shin Bet security service said.

Several other members of his family were arrested, according to Palestinian media.

Asem Barghouti is suspected of opening fire at a bus stop outside the Givat Assaf outpost in the central West Bank on December 13, killing two soldiers and seriously injuring a third serviceman and a female civilian. The gunman then fled the scene, and remains at large over two weeks later.

Barghouti is the brother of Salih Barghouti, who was suspected of carrying out a terror attack near the Ofra settlement three days earlier, on December 9, in which seven people were injured, including a seven-months pregnant woman, whose baby was delivered prematurely and died days later as a result of the attack.

Salih was shot dead on December 12 as he attacked Israeli security forces in an attempt to evade arrest, the army said.

In the effort to locate Asem Barghouti, Israeli security forces raided his hometown of Kobar in the predawn hours of Monday morning.

“During the operation, a number of sites in both open fields and built-up areas were searched, and a number of suspects from different villages were arrested,” the Israel Defense Forces said.

The official Palestinian Authority news service Wafa reported that six of Barghouti’s relatives were arrested in the raids.

According to the Shin Bet, Asem Barghouti’s wife was detained and questioned in the village — not arrested — and was released a short time later.

Clashes broke out during the raids. Residents threw firebombs and rocks at the Israeli troops, who responded with riot dispersal weapons, the army said.

No injuries were reported.

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Following the predawn raids, the IDF set up roadblocks inside and at the entrances to Kobar, inspecting the cars that went in and out of the village.

“The IDF will continue to work to improve the security of residents of the area and in order to thwart terrorism,” the army said in a statement.

The Israeli military on Monday released statistics for 2018 showing that the number of Palestinian terror attacks in the West Bank had dropped for the fourth consecutive year.

In the past year, the army documented 87 “terror events,” 10 fewer than the 97 recorded in 2017. It was a steep decline from the 169 in 2016 and 219 terror attacks in 2015.

The IDF also considers attacks on soldiers, not just civilians, to be terror attacks.

Sixteen Israelis were killed in West Bank attacks in 2018: nine civilians and seven soldiers — a decrease from the 20 killed in 2017, 12 of whom were civilians.

However, the outgoing calendar year saw a slight rise in the number of people injured in attacks. One hundred and ninety-nine people were injured in 2018 — 30 more than in 2017. The number marked a significant drop from the total injured in 2016 and 2015, when 263 and 360 people were wounded, respectively.

According to the IDF, the number of shooting attacks was almost the same, with 33 in 2018, compared to 34 in 2017. However, there was a jump in the number of stabbings, with 17 recorded, up from 5 in 2017.

There was a sharp drop in the incidents of stone throwing, with 2,057 recorded, compared to 5,082 in 2017.

The army conducted almost nightly raids in the West Bank, arresting 3,173 terror suspects, confiscating 406 weapons and seizing NIS 2,156,089 ($572,754) in terror funds, the army said.

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.