A WOMAN soldier was hacked to death by an ax-wielding Palestinian terrorist in the heart of Afula yesterday - only a few meters from the police station.

Sgt. Liat Gabai, 19, who was returning home to Afula to attend a memorial service for her grandmother, fell to the ground with the ax embedded in her head and later died in the hospital. She is to be buried in the military cemetery this afternoon.

Acting Northern Region police chief Rami Rahav said Roub claimed he had purchased the ax to kill IDF soldiers as an act of loyalty to the Fatah organization.