JERUSALEM – Dr. Baruch Mandeltzwieg knelt down and ripped open the jacket of a critically wounded man from Monday's homicide bombing in Dimona to begin emergency treatment. But instead of finding gushing blood, he was struck by another sight — an explosive belt.
The wounded man turned out to be a would-be suicide bomber who was knocked out by the force of the initial blast before he was able to detonate his own explosive belt.
"His head was moving. He was a patient who could be treated," Mandeltzwieg told Israel's Army radio. "We started to treat him and then we saw an explosive belt ... I managed to see a small gas canister and small plastic bags attached to his body."
Mandeltzwieg, who had rushed to the scene along with nurses from a nearby medical clinic, ran away as the second bomber began waving his arms. An Israeli policeman then shot the bomber at point blank range and killed him, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
Mandeltzwieg said there was no dilemma to treat the man.
"He was on the ground and was bleeding from his head. I thought he had a chance to live," he said. "I could have treated him, it didn't say on his forehead that he was a bomber."
And he said there was no dilemma to retreat when he discovered the explosive belt and his life was in danger.
"It was clear that he was a terrorist," he said.
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