Israeli retired military colonel beaten to death

JERUSALEM - A retired Israeli military colonel was beaten to death at his home in the Jordan Valley overnight Friday in what appears to be a militant attack, police spokesperson confirmed to Xinhua.

Colonel (Res.) Seraiah Ofer, one of the founders of a military elite unit called Shaldag, was sitting with his wife at his home in the Jordan Valley, a strip of land bordering with Jordan on the east and the West Bank on the southwest.

According to the police's account, the two were attacked by Palestinians who held iron rods as well as an ax.

The woman managed to get away and was moderately wounded, according to Magen David Adom (Israeli Emergency Services) spokesperson Zaki Heller.

Police and emergency services arrived at the scene and pronounced the man, who is in his 50s, dead. His wife has been hospitalized and was set to undergo surgery.

Military forces have set up road blocks in adjacent roads and are currently combing the area looking for the perpetrators.

This is the third Israeli killed in a series of incidents in the past month, which Israeli military officials dubbed as isolated incidents.

Three weeks ago, soldier Gal Kobi was killed in Hebron, apparently shot dead by a sniper. A day earlier, 20 year-old Tomer Hazan, also a soldier, was murdered in the West Bank city of Qalqiliiya.