Israel Matzav

Yom Kippur suicide bombing foiled

Police in Tel Aviv foiled a suicide bombing this morning when they found the bomber's belt of explosives in a south Tel Aviv apartment. The belt was found as a result of information discovered during the IDF raid in the Ein Bet Al Ma 'refugee camp' this past week. That's the same refugee camp that a group of 'internationals' (Americans from the accent in the video) protected in late July.

During the raid [in the 'refugee camp' CiJ], troops arrested four suspects, including the man planning to carry out the attack and the head of the Hamas military wing in the camp, Nihad Shkirat, officials said.

In the search for the explosives Saturday, a police officer was wounded in a scuffle with Palestinians living in the Tel Aviv apartment without the required entry permits for Israel, police said. The belt was detonated in a controlled explosion.

The Shin Bet security service had picked up the trail to the explosives belt when it arrested Shkirat on Thursday, the army said. Shkirat told investigators he passed the belt to another Palestinian who works in Tel Aviv. Police arrested that suspect Friday night, were led to the Tel Aviv apartment and found the belt.

YNet adds:

The belt was found following the arrest of Mahadi Ashur, a Palestinian from Nablus who worked in Tel Aviv. The man was apprehended during last week's operation in Biet llma, a refugee camp in the West Bank city [that's the same 'refugee camp' - there are variations on the name. CiJ].

...

On Friday it was reported that Duvdevan unit forces operating in Nablus arrested senior Hamas member Niyad Shkirat. Forty-nine other wanted Palestinians were also captured during the operation, and all suspects were transferred to defense forces for questioning.

Shkirat admitted in his interrogation that he had passed an explosive belt to Ashur, who was supposed to carry out the attack.

During the operation, IDF forces also uncovered a large Hamas weapons lab in Nablus.

Haaretz notes that the apartment (pictured above) is located at the southern end of Allenby Street, a main Tel Aviv thoroughfare.

Please keep in mind that if Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert goes through with his plan to turn Judea and Samaria over to the 'Palestinians', the IDF won't be conducting raids on Ein Bet Al Ma anymore. We'd be relying on that great terror fighter Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen to find the next suicide bomber before he can get to Tel Aviv and set off his explosives. But in Tel Aviv, they haven't figured that out yet.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:52 PM