TEL AVIV — The Iran-backed Islamic Jihad has sought to develop improvised explosive
devices similar to those assembled by Sunni insurgents in Iraq.
Israeli security sources said the Iranian-sponsored Jihad has been
experimenting with IEDs that could be detonated by a cellular phone. The
sources said Jihad planned to plant numerous IEDs in urban areas throughout
Israel that could be operated by the group's growing network in the Jewish
state.
"Jihad has sought to move away from the sole use of suicide bombers," a
security source said. "The organization wants to copy the Iraqi model
in which IEDs are planted and detonated daily at stand-off ranges."
The Jihad project has been assisted by Hizbullah, which developed a
range of IEDs for use against the Israel Army in Lebanon in the 1990s, Middle East Newsline reported.
Hizbullah has relayed shaped-charge IEDs components and technology to
insurgents in Iraq.
"There's too much preparation and effort needed to send a suicide bomber
into Israel," the source said. "The possibility of smuggling small IEDs into
Israel presents much greater possibilities, including multiple bombings."
The security sources said the Palestinian effort had been led by Elias
Ashkar, the late Jihad commander in the northern West Bank. Ashkar, said to
have planned most of the recent Jihad suicide strikes in Israel, was killed
in an Israeli military operation on May 14 in Qabatya near Jenin.
The Jihad IED effort was ordered and funded by the organization's
headquarters in Syria, the sources said. They said Jihad also planned to
prepare a car bomb against military targets in the northern West Bank.
Ashkar was described as an expert in the assembly of IEDs. The sources
said he planned to send operatives to plant bombs in bus stations, bus lines
and city markets.
"Ashkar's infrastructure was also planning to carry out attacks against
civilians by detonating bombs remotely via cell phone technology," the
source said. "This would be done with the assistance of various
collaborators, some of them Palestinians who are staying in Israel illegally
and are thus in a prime position to carry out attacks."
