A counterterrorism officer from the Jerusalem District Police is under investigation, it was cleared for publication Sunday, for shooting and neutralizing a 16 year-old Palestinian Arab terrorist who stabbed a man outside Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda Market last month.

In November, the 16 year-old and her 14 year-old relative stabbed a man - later revealed to be another Palestinian Arab from Bethlehem - thinking he was an Israeli Jew. The two skipped school and stalked around the city before carrying out the attack, the indictment shows.

But while the police officer and a civilian managed to stop the two from attacking other bystanders, the Attorney General's Office has opened proceedings against the officer, in order to examine allegations that the shots were unnecessary and that the terrorists had already been neutralized.

The policeman has explained throughout the investigation that he shot the terrorist from a sincere belief that passers-by were not out of danger and that he followed standard protocol vis-a-vis terror attacks in Israel. Nonetheless, the investigation has continued.