Three Israeli soldiers were injured Monday evening in an alleged shooting attack by a Palestinian man at an army checkpoint near the city of Al-Bira in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to Israeli sources, reported Anadolu Agency.
“Ambulance crews treated the three [injured] Israeli soldiers before taking them to the nearby Hadassah Hospital,” Israel’s official Magen David emergency service said in a statement.
“One of the soldiers was severely injured while the other two suffered minor injuries,” it added.
The Israeli army, for its part, said in a statement: “The Palestinian gunman arrived at an IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] checkpoint at the entrance to Ramallah and opened fire at forces at the scene, injuring three soldiers.”
“In response to the immediate threat, [army] forces shot the assailant,” it added.
According to Palestinian media reports, the shooter — identified as Mohammed Turkman — was shot dead at the scene.
Sources at the Palestinian liason’s office identified the slain gunman as 25-year-old Muhammad Turkman, a police officer from Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank.
According to Haaretz, Turkman committed the attack with a Kalashnikov rifle.
The newspaper added that one of the Israeli soldiers was seriously injured, while the other two were “lightly” injured. Two of the wounded were reportedly taken to the Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem.
Turkman was the 237th Palestinian killed by Israelis since the beginning of a wave of unrest across the occupied Palestinian territory which began in October 2015.
Israel, for its part, says 42 Israelis have been killed over the same period in attacks by Palestinians.
