TEL AVIV Ñ Fatah has ended a three-month lull in suicide attacks against
Israeli targets.
The movement headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has
claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on Sunday in a gasoline station
near an Israeli city in the West Bank. Three Israeli soldiers, two of them
officers, were killed in the strike. Another 18 people were injured in the
fuel station outside Ariel.
Officials said the bomber wore a belt that contained five kilograms of
explosives, Middle East Newsline reported. A security guard spotted the Palestinian and summoned soldiers
from a nearby cafe.
"There were shouts 'Kill him. Don't kill him,'" a witness said.
Several soldiers opened fire and the belt exploded killing the bomber
and those around him. Military sources said the bullets fired by the
soldiers might have detonated the explosive belt.
Hours later, the Fatah-dominated Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed
responsibility for the attack. Al Aqsa, funded by Fatah, identified the
bomber as Mohammed Shkeir, 19.
Al Aqsa is an umbrella group that contains all of the major Palestinian
insurgency groups. By late Sunday, Hamas also claimed responsibility for the
attack. Hamas identified the bomber as Mohammed Bastami, 22, a university
student from the West Bank city of Nablus.
Palestinian sources said the Fatah claim appeared intended to signal its
resumption of suicide missions after a lull of about three months. The
sources said Fatah intends to support strikes on Israeli targets in the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Israel is holding more than
100 suspected would-be Palestinian suicide bombers. He said six of them were
arrested over the weekend.
In Jenin, Israeli military authorities destroyed the homes of four
Palestinians suspected of being involved in suicide missions in Israel last
week. The homes demolished included those of the attackers who blew up a
passenger bus in northern Israel in which 14 people were killed on Oct. 21.
In Bethlehem, Palestinian sources said Israel and Palestinian Authority
security officials have been cooperating in the search for a woman who had
been recruited for a suicide mission in Jerusalem. The sources said the
bomber has not been captured.
