Israel nabs 2 for suspected involvement in Friday’s attempted stabbing attack

JERUSALEM: JAN. 2 – Israeli forces arrested over the weekend two persons suspected of involvement in Friday’s attempted stabbing attack in the Israel-occupied West Bank, the military said Sunday.

The army said the two suspects drove to the site of the incident the perpetrator of the attempted attack who had been killed by soldiers on the scene.

The first suspect was arrested on Friday afternoon and the second overnight between Saturday and Sunday.

On Friday, the perpetrator, identified as Amir Atef Reyan, stepped out of a vehicle at a junction near a military post and ran with a kitchen knife toward troops and civilians waiting at a bus station. The troops shot the man and the Palestinian health ministry later confirmed his death from his injuries.

The incident came amid a rise in Palestinian violence against Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and settlers’ attacks against Palestinian farmers and villagers.

Israel seized the West Bank in the 1967 war and has controlled it ever since, despite international condemnation.

-Xinhua