Ennesimo attacco sventato
un. 3, 2005 0:52 | Updated Jun. 3, 2005 1:21
Two would-be bombers nabbed
By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Two Islamic Jihad members who had planned to blow themselves up in a twin suicide bombing in Jerusalem were arrested Thursday at West Bank checkpoints.
A third member of the cell was also apprehended. Five other members of the cell, already in detention, have confirmed that they tried twice to infiltrate the bombers and would have made a third attempt on Thursday.
One of the would-be bombers, Said Rushdi Tawfik Makhoul, 20, was caught at a checkpoint at Surda, north of Ramallah. The other, Abdel Rahman Husseini Issa, 18, was detained at a checkpoint at Sa-Nur, north of Nablus.
The third cell member arrested Thursday, Imad Hamzi Abu Mariah, was caught in Beit Umar, north of Hebron. Security officials refrained from divulging details of his precise role, saying only that he was involved in the planning of the thwarted attacks.
On Wednesday, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), together with Jerusalem police, IDF and Border Police, revealed the recent arrests of the first five members of the cell.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, security forces arrested five Islamic Jihad fugitives in Idna, west of Hebron, who planned to fire rocket-propelled grenades at soldiers manning checkpoints near the village and at Tarkumiya. The fugitives also planned to abduct the soldiers.
The five were identified as relatives Rami, Zwajiri and Ahmed Batrau, Muhammad Farjallah and Tarek Abu Awoud. According to security officials they also planned to launch a suicide bomb attack in Israel.
Shots were fired at an IDF patrol west of Jenin; no one was wounded in the attack. In the morning, shots were fired at workers constructing the security fence near Beitunya, west of Ramallah.
A mortar shell was fired at a southern Gaza settlement. No one was wounded and no damage reported.
(Jpost)
