Ha'aretz

Monday, December 17, 2001 Tevet 2, 5762 Israel Time: 10:34 (GMT+2) Two bomb makers are teaching a new generation of `engineers' By Amos Harel Two men who appear on Israel's most-wanted list and whom the Palestinian Authority has yet made no effort to arrest are bomb-making experts from Nablus who are thought to have prepared most of the bombs Hamas used in its most deadly terror attacks over the past year.

The two, Jassar Samaru and Nassim Abu Rus, were both named on the "short list" that Israel transferred to the PA via U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni two weeks ago. They are suspected of preparing the bombs not only for the attacks in Jerusalem and Haifa two weeks ago, but for the two other deadliest bombings of the last 15 months - the Dolphinarium in Tel Aviv and the Sbarro in Jerusalem. They are also suspected of making the bomb that was used in last Wednesday's attack near Emmanuel in which 10 people were killed.

Samaru and Abu Rus are both veteran Hamas activists and members of the Nablus-based network that from the mid-1990s was headed by Mahmoud Abu Hanoud until his assassination three weeks ago. Both Samaru and Abu Rus were arrested by the Palestinian security forces at one point, but even while sitting in a PA jail in Jericho in 1997, they still managed to build five bombs.

These were used in that summer's two major attacks in Jerusalem - in the Mahane Yehuda market and the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall. Abu Hanoud commanded the suicide bombers who blew themselves up in those attacks. On their release from Jericho jail, Samaru and Abu Rus returned to Nablus and played a central role in Hamas's operations there.

Though Israel has assassinated a significant number of the most senior Hamas terrorists in Nablus over the last few months, an Israeli intelligence official said the organization had managed to find new commanders and "engineers" (bomb experts).

The veteran bomb-makers, many of whom received their training from Hezbollah, had managed to train younger Hamas members in their turn, the source said. He said these young members had acquired considerable practical experience over the last 15 months of conflict.

-- Anonymous, December 17, 2001