IDF arrests suspected accomplices of Barkan terrorist
Several suspects arrested in Tulkarm area as part of manhunt for Ashraf Na'alwa, who murdered two Israelis in a terror attack at the Barkan industrial zone earlier this month; forces opened fire at home of one of the suspects, who was believed to be armed.
The arrest, which was done by undercover forces in the Tulkarm area as part of the manhunt for the terrorist, constitutes a significant development in the investigation into the attack.
The IDF and Border Police said that during the arrest, forces opened fire at the home of one of the suspects who was feared to be armed.
No one was hurt in the incident, and the suspect was arrested and taken in for questioning.
Na'alwa, 23, from the village of Shweiki near Tulkarem, worked at the Alon recycling factory as an electrician for the past seven months, but last Sunday he came to work—a place considered a symbol of coexistence—armed with an M-16 rifle and shot dead Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 28, and Ziv Hagbi, 35, and wounded Sarah Vettori, 54.
The terrorist arrived at the factory shortly after 7:30am. He hid the M-16 rifle he had brought with him under his clothes and apparently showed the security at the industrial zone’s entrance his work permit.
Na'alwa entered the factory through the main entrance. He went upstairs to fix an electrical malfunction on the second floor, noticed several employees, and decided to go back downstairs with his weapon already drawn.
The terrorist then took cable ties from the factory’s warehouse and returned to the second floor, the office floor, to carry out the attack.
He forced a Palestinian cleaning worker at gunpoint to handcuff one of the victims, Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, and then allowed him to escape. He then shot Levengrond Yehezkel dead and continued to the next office space, where he shot dead Ziv Hagbi.
On his way out, the terrorist identified another employee, Sarah Vettori, and fired in her direction, moderately wounding her.
Footage of the incident shows the terrorist escaping the factory by running down the stairs while holding the weapon and a backpack.
So far, no organization has claimed credit for the attack, and so the defense establishment considers this a lone-wolf terror attack. Security forces haven't been able to find any affiliation to a terror group either.
