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| Middle East |
| IDF hits Hamas infrastructure |
| 2003-12-02 |
| JPost - Reg Req'd Three senior Hamas fugitives and a nine-year-old boy were killed during a wide-ranging operation against the Hamas infrastructure in Ramallah that was concluded late Monday afternoon. Twenty-nine suspects were arrested, two bomb factories and a belt containing 20 kg. of explosives blown up, and three buildings demolished. Score: IDF - 35, Hamas - 0 Operation New Momentum was launched late Sunday night with elite IDF, Border Police units, engineering and armored units entering Ramallah, which was placed under partial curfew. In most parts of the city Palestinians remained unrestricted throughout the IDF raid. As troops conducted house-to-house searches for fugitives and explosives, IDF officials informed their Palestinian Authority counterparts of the operation under way, stressing it was aimed at the Hamas infrastructure and that troops had no intention of entering PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's Mukata compound, and would leave the area after completing the mission. "Just letting you know - we're taking out the trash - don't need to say "thank you" - it was our pleasure" Palestinians reported 16 to 20 wounded, including fugitive senior Hamas commander Sheikh Ibrahim Hamed, who was believed to have been hurt and possibly killed when a five-story building in which he is thought to have been hiding was leveled by security forces. heh heh...is that his elbow over there? Hamed is suspected of planning numerous terror attacks in which 68 Israelis were murdered and over 550 wounded. The attacks include the suicide bomb attack at Jerusalem's Moment Cafe in March 2002, the suicide bomb attack at the Sheffield Snooker Club in Rishon Lezion in May 2002, the bomb attack at the Frank Sinatra Cafeteria at Jerusalem's Hebrew University in July 2002, a bus bomb attack in Tel Aviv in October 2002 and the suicide bomb attack at the entrance to the Tzrifin army base in September this year. In the past month, security forces forces have succeeded in foiling over 25 terrorist attacks by arresting key figures affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah, security officials said. Currently, the number of terror warnings registered by the security establishment stands at 50. Col. Roni Numa, the Binyamin district commander, said Operation New Momentum had been planned for some time and the completion of a long period of intelligence gathering enabled the operation to begin on Sunday night. "There is no significance to the timing; the operation was launched as soon as it was possible to do so," he told reporters in a briefing on Monday afternoon. Geneva "accords"? what "accords"? Security forces dealt the Hamas infrastructure in the city a heavy blow, but this does not mean that it will not be able to launch an attack tomorrow, he said. Hamas was planning further attacks against Israelis, Numa noted, as proven by the bombs hidden inside basketballs, the explosives belt as well as the large amount of weapons, explosives, detonators and ingredients used to prepare bombs found by security forces in buildings they searched and later blown up. "would you blow up this ball for me?" is taking on new meaning... Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz praised the security forces and the Shin Bet for conducting a successful operation. "Reality required such an operation. We had concrete information that senior Hamas officials were planning to carry out attacks in Israel," said Mofaz. Two of the fugitives killed by security forces shot at troops from a building east of the Amari refugee camp. The two had in their possession a number of Kalashnikov rifles, explosives and a belt containing at least 20 kilograms of explosives. One was identified as Salah Hassin Talahme, 37, who is said to have been involved in planning numerous terrorist attacks. The third Hamas fugitive killed by troops threw grenades and shot at soldiers deployed in the Umm Shawayat neighborhood. bad move - idiot The IDF said it was checking Palestinian reports that Abdul Rahman Hamdan, nine, was killed by IDF gunfire in Al-Bireh adjacent to Ramallah. wasn't this the kid shot by his own brother? Elsewhere, an IDF officer was lightly wounded when shots were fired at a patrol near the security fence around Gush Katif close to Ganei Tal. The officer was taken to the hospital for treatment. An antitank rocket was fired at army forces deployed near Rafah. No one was wounded but an IDF vehicle was damaged. Shots were also fired at an IDF post near Ganei Tal and at an IDF base in Neveh Dekalim. In the West Bank, in Hebron early Monday morning, security forces demolished the three-story home of Ahmed Ottaman Muhammad Shafik Bader, a senior Hamas member who planned, recruited and dispatched terrorists to infiltrate Israeli communities and carry out shooting and bomb attacks against Israeli citizens in the West Bank and Jerusalem. urban renewal In Tulkarm, a bomb was found in a building security forces were searching for terror suspects. It was detonated. In a raid carried out by Border Police and the IDF, a Tanzim fugitive attempting to evade arrest was shot and wounded. after treatment in a hospital in Israel he will be handed over to the Shin Bet for questioning. Shots were fired at an elite Border Police unit and four other fugitives were arrested in the city by security forces during the day. Shots were also fired at soldiers in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus. |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #2 Twenty-nine suspects were arrested, two bomb factories and a belt containing 20 kg. of explosives blown up, and three buildings demolished. The belt should've been strapped to a known terrorist before detonating it, like say Arafart, or Yassin. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-12-2 3:07:26 PM |
| #1 Was the bomb found in a building in Tulkarm exploded in or out of the building? |
| Posted by: SamIII 2003-12-2 3:03:25 PM |