Israeli undercover troops killed an Islamic Jihad commander in the West Bank town of Jenin on Wednesday, one day after a suicide bombing attempt he allegedly ordered was thwarted in Tel Aviv.The slain man was identified as Mahmoud Abu Ubayed, 24, commander of Islamic Jihad in areas near Jenin. Witnesses said Abu Ubayed was driving his car near the Yihya Ayyash Square in Jenin when undercover troops in civilian clothing surprised him and sprayed the vehicle with bullets. The square was named for a Hamas bombing mastermind killed in an Israeli-ordered attack in 1996. An Israel Defense Forces combat helicopter was seen in the area at the time, Palestinian witnesses said. "Surveillance showed the targeted man was armed and he was shot in a joint operation conducted by the army, Shin Bet and undercover Border Police," an IDF spokesman said.
Islamic Jihad on Wednesday vowed
The planned large-scale attack in the Tel Aviv area was prevented Tuesday when police and security forces arrested an Islamic Jihad militant and his partners at an apartment in Bat Yam. Army Radio said Abu Ubayed dispatched the suspected bomber, a resident of a village near Jenin. Islamic Jihad last carried out a suicide attack in Israel on January 29, when three people were killed in the Red Sea resort of Eilat.
The bomber caught had given Ubayed's name during interrogation, Army Radio reported. The IDF said that Ubayed had supplied the bomber with the explosives. The suspect told police where the explosive device he was supposed to use in the attack was located and the bomb squad found the large device in a garbage can in the center of Rishon Letzion. The would-be bomber, 24, was identified in a statement the organization released to the Palestinian press.
On Tuesday morning, the militant left his village of Jiblun, which borders the Green Line east of Jenin, carrying a bag with a bomb. Close to midday the Shin Bet received a warning that a terrorist attack was in progress. This information triggered an extensive manhunt. The searches succeeded in locating the terrorist in a Bat Yam apartment housing Palestinians without legal permits to be in Israel.
The would-be suicide bomber was questioned by the security forces and a short while later, he led investigators to the center of Rishon Letzion where he had dropped off the bomb in a trash can. Police demolitions experts carried out a controlled explosion of the device after evacuating dozens of nearby buildings.
The militant said he had been ordered to carry out the suicide bombing in southern Tel Aviv. It appears the target was supposed to have been the area of the central bus station. It is still unclear why the militant decided to hide the explosive device he was carrying in Rishon Letzion and then proceed to Bat Yam, and not go directly to the target area.
The three Palestinians living in the Bat Yam apartment were also arrested and the Shin Bet is trying to figure out whether they were in any way involved in the planning of the attack, or whether they thought the would-be bomber was a laborer like them.
A senior security source told Haaretz that the Shin Bet and police activity are worthy of praise and that their resourcefulness has led to the prevention of a major terrorist attack. "There is no doubt that a major disaster was prevented," Major General David Tzur, commander of the Tel Aviv police district said Tuesday.
The slain Islamic Jihad leader's name, "Ubayed", is also given as Abait, Obeid, and al-Jahim in other press accounts.