MIDEAST: Suspected Palestinian suicide bomber explodes in Israeli town of Dimona, Israeli airforce attack Palestinian militant in Gaza as people celebrate suicide attack

Record ID: 359185

  • Title: MIDEAST: Suspected Palestinian suicide bomber explodes in Israeli town of Dimona, Israeli airforce attack Palestinian militant in Gaza as people celebrate suicide attack
  • Date: 4th February 2008
  • Summary: (BN11) RAFAH CROSSING, GAZA (FEBRUARY 4, 2008) (REUTERS) CROWD OF PALESTINIANS GATHERING AT BORDER CROSSING EGYPTIAN TROOPS GUARDING BORDER
  • Embargoed: 19th February 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVAAVIJXTTDAY8VP92IAYTXDBZ6Y
  • Story Text: The families in Gaza of two Palestinian bombers who carried out the first suicide bombing in Israel in a year on Monday (February 4), praised them as "martyrs".
    23-year old Musa Arafat and 20-year old Loai al-Aghwani killed a woman at a shopping centre in a desert town where a top-secret nuclear reactor is located.
    "I could not contact him since, his phone was out of range.
    Thanks God he died as a martyr. He was able to carry out the attack despite of the siege," said Khalil, father of Musa Arafat after the attack.
    "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."
    A source in the Palestinian Fatah faction said the "Army of Palestine" wing of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades carried out the attack along with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
    In a suicide attack earlier on Monday in the southern Israeli town of Dimona, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up, killing a woman and wounding several others, Israeli police said and added a second suicide bomber was shot dead by police before exploding himself.
    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.
    Soon after the explosion onlookers started gathering at the site.
    Two other Palestinian militant groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, 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 Miniaster 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.
    Egypt has since sealed the breach.
    Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman Arieh Mekel condemned the attack.
    The attack occurred several weeks after Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace talks opposed by Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
    Egyptian forces boosted security at the sealed off border with the Gaza Strip, stopping the influx of Palestinians after the suicide bombing in southern Israel.
    Egyptian troops held back Palestinians wanting to leave Gaza and used barbed wire and metal barricades to completely seal the Egyptian side of the frontier at Rafah, a town straddling the border.
    An Egyptian officer said Gazans on the Egyptian side of the frontier and Egyptians visiting the Gaza Strip would be allowed to return home.
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