20-Jan-11: Another shooter shot

A Palestinian Arab man in his twenties and riding a donkey approached an IDF security checkpoint this morning in the vicinity of Jenin in the Samaria district of the West Bank, close to the Israeli community of Mevo Dotan. He dismounted and approached  the checkpoint on foot. From 50 meters away he began shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and opened fire with a rifle, an AK-47. The Israeli soldiers manning the post fired a warning shot in the air, as required by IDF rules. He failed to stop. They then opened fire on the running shooter and killed him. An IDF report says representatives of the Red Crescent removed his body.

AFP quotes Palestinian Arab officials who said the dead man was Saalem Mohammed Samudi. His relative, Khaldun Samudi, was neutralized by IDF soldiers as he ran towards a checkpoint with a pipe bomb in his hand, shouting Islamic slogans. At the time, that relative was said to be a terrorist connected to Islamic Jihad in Jenin. AFP says today's shooter too was an Islamic Jihad terrorist though family members denied to reporters that he belonged to what AFP calls a "militant group". The Jerusalem Post says today's Samudi attack was an act of vengeance for the previous Samudi death, and quotes relatives of today's deceased shooter saying he sought to avenge the death of that relative, killed two weeks ago at a different security checkpoint in the Jordan Valley.