- Title: ISRAE/GAZA/WEST BANK: Second suspected suicide bomber shot dead by Israeli police
- Date: 5th February 2008
- Summary: (BN08) RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (FEBRUARY 4, 2008) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS BUILDING SIGN READING 'COUNCIL OF MINISTERS' (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAHMOUD HABASH, THE AGRICULTURE MINISTER SAYING: "We are against all the acts that help to turn us back to violence. The occupation is responsible for all the violence in the region."
- Embargoed: 20th February 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVA8ZSEWD30ISKJA8H1AC4DEGR3D
- Story Text: Israeli Television airs rare footage of Israeli policeman shooting a suspected Palestinian bomber as several thousand mourners in Gaza bury senior militant killed in Israeli air strike hours after suicide bombing in southern Israel.
Minutes after a suicide attack in a southern Israeli town on Monday (February 4), an Israeli policeman shot dead another suspected Palestinian bomber.
In the desert town of Dimona, a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt, killing a woman in the first such attack in the country in a year.
Police said they prevented a second blast in Dimona's shopping centre by shooting dead an accomplice before he could detonate an explosives belt as rescuers rushed to the scene.
Israel's Channel 10 network aired rare footage of an Israeli policeman shooting at the suspected Palestinian bomber who was lying on the ground minutes after the first explosion rocked Dimona's shopping centre. The television pictures appeared to show an explosives belt strapped around the bomber' waist.
Kobi Mor, Commander of Magen Police Unit that operates in southern Israel to fight drug dealers, was one of the first security men on the scene of the attack and shot dead the second suicide bomber.
"I took my gun and shoot about five bullets to his head, and it's important to know that he tried to activate the exploded belt," he said in Dimona.
While rescue forces worked on cleaning up the debris, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak examined the site.
The families in Gaza of the two Palestinian bombers, 23-year old Musa Arafat and 20-year old Loai al-Aghwani who carried out the suicide bomb attack, praised them as "martyrs".
"This is a great operation" said Loai al-Aghwani's father Zaki, "I feel very proud of my son,"
A Gaza-based source in President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction said the "Army of Palestine" wing of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades launched the attack along with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Spokesman and leader of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade unit of 'the army of Palestine', took full responsibility for the attacks in Dimona.
"We announce our full responsibility for the martyrdom operation inside Dimona, that has been executed by the heroic martyr Luay Zaki al-Aghwani and the heroic Martyr Moussa Arafat which lead to the death and injuries of tens of Zionists in one of the most fortified locations inside the Zionist's places," Al Waleed said at a news conference in Gaza City.
Israel's air force attacked a senior Palestinian militant as he drove through the northern Gaza Strip on Monday (February 4), wounding him and at least two others, a source in the ruling Hamas faction said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed an air strike had taken place and said it targeted a PRC member.
The PRC has frequently fired rockets from Gaza into Israel. It was not among Palestinian factions that issued claims of responsibility for the bombing in Dimona.
In Gaza, a handful of children took to the streets of Rafah and handed out sweets and flowers to drivers in celebration of the bombing in Dimona.
One Gazan taxi driver spoke in support of the suicide bombing saying "It's a beautiful operation, I hope that all operations be like this one, for them to be blown up so we can be relieved from them (Israelis). Hopefully to continue in Dimona, Tel Aviv and inside Israel."
Two other Palestinian groups, praised the bombing as a blow against "Israeli occupation" and retaliation for Israeli attacks.
"We are against all the acts that help to turn us back to violence. The occupation is responsible for all the violence in the region," said Mahmoud Habash, Palestinian Agriculture Minister speaking in Ramallah.
Speaking in Gaza, Islamic Jihad spokesman, Khaled el-Batsch said that the palestinians had a right to fight Israel.
"When Israel is issuing sanctions against the Palestinians, when they continue assassinations and it (Israel) does not accept our rights, the Palestinians have the right to continue resistance, and whoever is responsible for this bomb, it is the right for the Palestinian people to fight the occupation," he said.
The explosion raised speculation in Israel that a Palestinian militant from the Gaza Strip had infiltrated from nearby Egypt after Hamas Islamists blasted open the territory's border at Rafah late last month.
Hours after the suicide bombing, an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip killed Amer Qarmout, a senior commander in the militant group, the Popular Resistance Committees, which carries out cross-border rocket attacks.
The PRC vowed revenge.
Thousands marched in funeral procession for Qarmout, carrying his body on a stretcher through the streets of Gaza City and chanting 'God is great'.
A Palestinian suicide bomber last struck in Israel on January 29, 2007, killing three people in the southern resort town of Eilat, on the Red Sea. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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