Ha'aretz

Army liquidates Nablus suicide bomb cell

By Amos Harel

The IDF yesterday assassinated two Hamas activists from Nablus who were planning a suicide bombing in the Sharon region, putting an end to several days of high alert in the area.

At about 9 A.M. yesterday, IDF helicopters fired a number of missiles at a Palestinian car heading toward Tul Karm from Anabta, which lies east of the city. The missiles hit the car near the Bila'a junction, on the outskirts of Area A (under full Palestinian control). Palestinian eyewitnesses said that after the missile hit the car, setting it alight, two of the three men in the car managed to escape. Then, however, they were hit by machine gun fire from the helicopter.

Two of the passengers were killed, their bodies completely burned. The third passenger, apparently the driver, was seriously wounded. IDF ground forces entered the area and captured him.

The Prime Minister's Office issued a statement saying the two dead Palestinians were Yasser Asira, from a village near Nablus, and Fahmi Abu Ayishe, a Nablus man. The statement said: "Following urgent warnings in recent days, a Hamas cell was foiled today in its plans to conduct a large-scale attack in Israel."

PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, told reporters in Gaza the attack was "a crime, in contravention of the agreements between the two sides."

The first alert about a Hamas cell planning a suicide bombing reached the intelligence services on Monday, and since Tuesday, large numbers of police and Border Police troops have been deployed throughout the Sharon region on both sides of the Green Line, near Tul Karm.

Israel had accurate information on the whereabouts of the cell at practically every stage of their attempt. Asira was the planned suicide bomber and Ayishe his controller. The two apparently tried to cross the Green Line twice, but both times were foiled by the large security presence.

Asira was also an accomplice in the murder of two settlers from Yitzhar, near Nablus, in August 1998. He was arrested by the PA, but was released shortly after the onset of the intifada. Israel had asked for his rearrest on several occasions, but was turned down by the PA.

As in many suicide bombings over the past year, this attempt originated in Nablus. Hamas's top military leaders reside in this city.

-- Anonymous, November 02, 2001