Israeli sources reported Monday evening that a booby-trapped car bomb exploded at the Umm al Fahm junction in northern Israel, not far from the border with the West Bank. According to reports, a Palestinian with an explosive belt strapped to his waist blew up and killed himself after hitching a ride with an Israeli security guard.
The security guard, who had stopped to give the suspected bomber a ride, was seriously injured in the blast, which occurred at around 6 P.M. (15:00 GMT) Monday.
Police described the explosion as a "work accident," using Israel's term for a bomb that goes off prematurely.
Arrests
The Israeli army said it had arrested the head of Hamas for the area around the northern West Bank town of Jenin. Troops arrested Mazen Fuqah overnight in Tubas, about 15 kilometers southeast of Jenin, an army spokesman said. Six other wanted Palestinians were also arrested, the spokesman said.
Israeli public radio quoted security sources as saying Fuqah was responsible for planning the Hamas suicide bombing of a bus in northern Israel Sunday which killed nine Israeli residents and injured dozens more. According to this report, Fuqah provided the bomber with the explosives.
Ben-Eliezer
Meanwhile, Israel’s Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer declared Monday that the entire northern West Bank had been put under a full closure, the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah had been sealed off, and that an even more intensive blockade was in the offing. The army also confirmed that there would be a ban Palestinian travel in much of the West Bank.
Israel holds some 140 would-be bombers who had been intercepted before carrying out their missions, he Ben-Eliezer. "It's enough to tell you that today we are getting close to 140 men and women suicide (bombers) in our hands, alive. Imagine what would have happened if no one had stopped them.” Without elaborating, he added that "I hope that today there will be a few surprises."
"Today we are in a situation of total closure in the Samaria (Northern West Bank) area, no one goes in and no one goes out. In all of the major cities, there is no movement between the population centers," Ben-Eliezer told reporters. "In Gaza we have cut off the whole area of Rafah - no one goes in or out of Rafah."
The defense minister added that "We will continue with demolition of terrtorists' houses. We will begin exiling the families of suicide bombers, but only if there is a clear link is proven between them and the act. We will also continue with a long list of operations which I am not prepared to discuss at the moment, with the goal of implementing a much larger closure than we are at the present."
The minister indicated that the army was using most of the forces at its disposal in order to guarantee the maximum security possible.
Alert
Israeli police lowered an alert in the central region Monday afternoon, shortly after having set up roadblocks in the area due to a 'hot alert' that Palestinians were planning an attack. Border Police moved large numbers of reinforcements into the seam zone between Kafr Kassem and Tulkarem, and the number of patrols in the area were also intensified, Haaretz reported. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
