Israel arrests suspects in killing of soldier

Jerusalem: Israeli security forces have arrested two Arabs suspected of the fatal stabbing of a soldier in what authorities call a "terrorist attack", officials said Monday.

Ron Kukia, 19, was found dying from stab wounds near a bus stop in the city of Arad last Thursday, after his attackers had fled the scene.

The Shin Bet domestic security agency said they arrested two suspects from southern Israel on Friday.

Based on its investigation, the assault was "a terror attack carried out on nationalistic grounds", Shin Bet said in a statement.

One of the suspects had led investigators to the location of the soldier`s rifle, it read.

A Shin Bet spokesman told AFP the suspects were Bedouins.

A wave of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories that began in October 2015 has killed at least 309 Palestinians or Arab Israelis, 52 Israelis and seven foreigners, according to an AFP count.

Israeli authorities say most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks.

Soldiers or police have often been the targets.

The violence has subsided greatly in recent months.