Video: Beitar Illit residents instructed to lock themselves in their homes: "Fear that a terrorist is walking around the city" (Walla system!)
The Shin Bet revealed on Monday that security forces had foiled a terrorist infrastructure belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Judea and Samaria, which carried out the attempted attack in Beitar Illit last March and was planning additional attacks. Six ISIS operatives were detained, members of the student cell operating on its behalf, residents of refugee camps in the Bethlehem area, named Wassam Awina, Ahmad Abu Naama, Mazen Obeidallah, Muhammad al-Barak, Rami al-Ahmar and Nur Mahmoud. In addition, an Israeli resident who drove one of the operatives was detained. However, after her interrogation revealed that she was unaware of his intentions, an indictment was filed against her for transporting a resident illegally.
Their interrogation revealed their involvement in planting the IED on a bus in the ultra-Orthodox city, starting from the preparation stage, dividing the roles between them, recruiting the terrorist and operatives for infrastructure, renting hiding apartments, one of which served as an explosives laboratory, manufacturing explosives for IEDs in the apartment, and purchasing an escape vehicle. The terrorists will be indicted for serious security offenses of attempted intentional manslaughter, manufacturing explosives, membership in an illegal association, and more.
The six operatives who were detained (Photo: Shin Bet)
The interrogation of the terrorists also revealed that a senior PFLP official living in Lebanon directed them to the attempted attack, along with instructions from senior members of the terrorist organization imprisoned in Israel. In addition, the investigation revealed that operatives were recruited to the PFLP throughout Judea and Samaria who planned to promote terrorist attacks in the immediate future. The operatives who were recruited were asked to recruit additional squad members, purchase weapons, manufacture IEDs and promote shooting and IED attacks against Israeli targets. These squads were thwarted by the security forces during a wave of arrests carried out in the area.
Two months ago, residents of Beitar Illit were instructed to close themselves in their homes for fear of a terrorist infiltration into the city, after an IED was found in a bag left on a bus on Ben Zakai Street in the city. An inquiry with the forces on the ground revealed that a terrorist boarded bus number 226 between Jerusalem and Beitar Illit. When he reached the city's main street, he got off the bus, and a few seconds later the bombs began to catch fire, unclear whether intentionally or accidentally.
- news
- Military & Security
Tags
- Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
- Beitar Illit
- Attacks
