OVERVIEW: Border Police stationed near the Tapuach Junction saw a suspicious figure approaching the area. Despite the 95 degree Farenheit weather today, the man was wearing an overcoat.
Photo by: News0404
From a distance, the soldiers made the 20 year old Arab man stop and remove his coat, at which point they saw that the inside of his jacket was lines with bombs.
They made him strip down, and demolition experts blew up the bombs.
The IDF is now interrogating the man, who is from the Shechem area, to confirm whether he was to be the suicide bomber, or if he was trying to smuggle the bomb to someone else.
Alon Platoon commander Shlomi Yosef told Tazpit that the professionalism and awareness of the Border Police soldiers on site, in identifying and capturing the suicide belt prevented a major attack.
TIMELINE:
11:00 AM An Arab man wearing a coat in today’s scorching 95 degree Fahrenheit weather was spotted approaching the Tapuach junction in the Shomron.
A Border Police unit on the site spotted and stopped the man from a distance, where he was told to lie down on the road and remove his outer clothing.
The army suspects he is wearing a suicide belt under his clothing.
The army sent demolitions experts to the site, and has moved an armored bus between the suspect and everyone else in the area.
11:05 AM The army blew up the man’s clothing, and from the amount of smoke that came out, witnesses on site say it appears it was a bomb.
11:28 AM The junction is now open for traffic.
The Tapuach Junction has been the site of a number of terror attacks.