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Israel: Suicide bombing attempts up sharply in 2006

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, April 20, 2006

TEL AVIV — Israel's military has reported a significant increase in attempted Palestinian suicide strikes.

The military, citing Iranian funding and incentives, said the rate of attempted Palestinian suicide bombings in 2006 was about twice the rate of that during last year. A report asserted that that more Palestinian suicide bombing suspects were arrested in the first quarter of this year than detentions conducted during most of 2005.

[On Thursday, Palestinian gunners fired four Kassam-class, short-range missiles into Israel, Middle East Newsline reported. The missiles fell south of the Israeli city of Ashkelon. No injuries were reported.]

The report said the military and security forces captured 90 Palestinians suspected of planning to conduct suicide bombings in the first three months of 2006. This was more than half the number of people arrested in all of 2005.

So far, Palestinians succeeded in two suicide bombings over the last month. On April 17, at least nine people were killed in a Jihad bombing in Tel Aviv. On March 30, four Israelis were killed in a suicide bombing at the entrance of the Jewish community of Kedumim in the northern West Bank.

The military report said those arrested by Israel in 2006 had been on their way to blow themselves up. Others were said to have agreed to conduct suicide bombings, but were captured before they could act.

Would-be suicide bombers identified themselves as coming from a range of Palestinian insurgency groups, including Fatah, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the report said. The exception was Hamas, which has expressed its commitment to a ceasefire with Israel in February 2005.

Palestinian insurgency groups have intensified recruitment of suicide bombers, the report said. The report also cited increased funding by Iran and Hizbullah to such groups as Fatah and Islamic Jihad.


Copyright © 2006 East West Services, Inc.

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