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Senior Hamas militant assassinated in Gaza Strip
[Jpost] Senior Hamas militant Mazen Fukaha was assassinated in the Gaza Strip on Friday, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in the small coastal enclave said.

"The martyr Mazen Fukaha was shot in the head leading to his death," Health Ministry Spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said on Twitter.

The deadly incident took place in front of Fukaha’s home in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in the southern half of Gaza City.

The parties behind the assassination are unknown, the Hamas-backed Interior Ministry said in a statement, adding that the Hamas-dominated security services opened an investigation.

Hamas, however, accused Israel of carrying out the assassination.

"Hamas and its fighting brigades place the full responsibility for this reprehensible crime on the Israeli occupation and its collaborators," Hamas said in an official statement.
The Times of Israel adds:
Originally from a small village in the West Bank, Faqha headed the Hamas office tasked with launching terror attacks against Israel from and in the territory. His subordinates in the branch specialized in recruiting suicide attackers, collecting weapons and preparing explosive devices.

Faqha, 38, was responsible for sending a suicide bomber to carry out an attack in northern Israel in 2002 in which nine people were killed and 52 were wounded.

He was captured by the IDF and Shin Bet security services that year in his home village of Toubas in the northern West Bank.

According to a report in Haaretz from the time, Faqha was captured after a lengthy manhunt. He had previously been involved in several other attacks.

Before his release as part of the Shalit deal, Faqha was serving nine life sentences for planning the deadly 2002 terror attack.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2017-03-25
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=484247