Two Palestinians killed in botched robbery of Israeli driver near Hebron

Two Palestinians were killed and a third was wounded on Sunday during what appears to have been an attempted robbery of a Jewish truck driver just south of Hebron.

The truck driver, a 52-year-old resident of Ashkelon who sustained minor injuries from the attempted robbery, reported that the three Palestinians had hurled a blunt object at him and tried to kidnap him and that he had shot them in self defense, Army Radio reported.

The two Palestinians were pronounced dead at a Palestinian hospital.

After shooting the perpetrators, the driver reportedly drove to the nearest checkpoint and reported the incident to the authorities.

Kadima MK Avi Dichter, a former head of the Israel Security Agency, told Army Radio on Sunday that violent robbery attempts by Palestinians should be viewed as terror attacks. „Carjacking could easily lead to kidnapping of people. We must use our intelligence apparatus to pinpoint these car thieves and bring them to justice,” Dichter said.

A senior police officer investigating the incident told Channel 10 news that „the initial investigation indicates that an attempted robbery was made on the man, which is very common in that area. In recent months more than seven commercial vehicles have been carjacked by Palestinian gangs, who steal the cargo or the vehicle itself, with the cargo.”

„A preliminary look at the circumstances and the individuals involved leads us to believe that this was a criminal incident, not a terror attack,” he added.

A medical technician who treated the shooter reported to Channel 10 that the truck driver had sustained bruises to the back and the hands and had been apparently hit with a blunt instrument in the chest.