Jaffa: IDF officer moderately hurt in stabbing attack
Assailant attacks Armored Corps captain from behind on Yehuda Hayamit Street, tries to snatch his rifle; suspect arrested; police believe attack criminally-motivated
An IDF officer suffered moderate injuries Sunday during a stabbing attack on Yehuda Hayamit Street in Jaffa.
The officer, a captain in the Armored Corps, was attacked from behind by an unidentified assailant while he was sitting on a bench.
According to an initial investigation, the assailant stabbed the officer in the chest and snatched his rifle. The owner of a nearby coffee shop heard the officer's cries and proceeded to chase the attacker, who then dropped the weapon and fled the scene.
Police estimate that the attack was criminally-motivated because the assailant focused on trying to steal the officer's rifle.
An eyewitness told Army Radio, "I saw a soldier sitting on a bench, and then a masked man with a sweatshirt over his head running towards the buildings carrying an M-16 (assault rifle). Then I saw a civilian and the officer chasing the man."
The officer's rifle was recovered by passersby and turned over to the police.
Large police forces that arrived at the scene set up roadblocks and launched a manhunt for the assailant.
Yiftach District Police arrested a suspect in connection to the stabbing attack. The man was apprehended at a Jaffa home, and was taken in for questioning.
Another suspect was arrested earlier, but after he was questioned police concluded that his involvement in the attack was unlikely.
The officer, who sustained one stab wound to his chest, was evacuated to the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv.
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