Palestinian shoots at Border Police south of Jerusalem, is arrested

A Palestinian man on Thursday morning attacked Israeli security forces with live pistol fire in the West Bank, south of Jerusalem, without causing injuries.

He was arrested after soldiers and officers chased him down, police said.

The shooter, identified as a 20-year-old resident of the village of Beit Sahur, near Bethlehem, fired the pistol from the area of the nearby Palestinian town of Al-Khader, the police statement said.

He shot toward Border Police officers who were manning a checkpoint on the tunnel road to Jerusalem.

An IDF observation post was said to identify the assailant and led soldiers and police officers to him.

During the short pursuit, the Palestinian again fired at the troops’ armored vehicle, hitting it several times, including one of the windows, the statement said.

The Palestinian was lightly injured by the pursuing police car and received medical treatment at the scene, police said. None of the Israeli troops was hurt.

“After hitting the terrorist with the vehicle, he began to flee while the fighters charged at him with drawn weapons, shooting in the air and arresting him,” police said.

A pocket knife was discovered in the man’s possessions, and an FN pistol — which police said was probably the gun he used to attack the border guards — was found nearby.

“There is no doubt that the quick pursuit and identification of the terrorist brought the incident to an end without any of our forces being wounded and with the terrorist detained,” police said.