Palestinian stabs Israeli dead near West Bank settlement:

A Palestinian stabbed and killed an Israeli man near a major West Bank settlement today before fleeing the scene, Israeli authorities said.

"Israeli man murdered in stabbing attack in Ariel," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said in a statement, referring to the settlement in the occupied West Bank.

He said that security forces were searching for the attacker.

The Israeli army identified the attacker as a Palestinian and said the incident occurred at a bus stop at the entrance to Ariel.

The victim was identified by an internal settler communique as Itamar Ben Gal, in his 40s and a resident of the Har Bracha settlement in the northern West Bank.
 

Ariel is one of the largest settlements in the Israeli- occupied West Bank, located 35 kilometres (22 miles) north of Jerusalem.

It was the second fatal attack on Israelis in the northern West Bank in a month after Rabbi Raziel Shevah was shot dead on January 8.