Terrorist gaffe could stop suicide bombing

February 5, 2008

JERUSALEM – A terrorist gaffe has provided Israel with crucial information that could help stop a potentially imminent suicide attack, WND has learned.

Yesterday, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in the Israeli Negev desert city of Dimona, killing one woman and injuring 11 others, including at least one man who is in critical condition.

Negev Police Chief Yossi Porianta told reporters a second suicide bomber was set to detonate his explosives at the site of the bombing, but he was knocked away by the blast of the first bomb. Upon noticing the second bomber, security forces at the scene shot him at point blank.

Immediately after the attack, a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group called both WND and a reporter from Israel’s popular Ynetnews website to take credit for the bombing on behalf the Brigades and another terror organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is the declared military wing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.

The Brigades leader provided WND with the names of the two bombers – Mussa Arafat, a PFLP terrorist from the Gaza city of Khan Younis, and Lawai Lawani, an Al Aqsa Brigades member from Gaza’s Sabra neighborhood.

Calls by WND to the families of both Arafat and Lawani in Gaza discovered the two men, both in their 20s, left their homes and have not been heard from all week.

Later yesterday, the Brigades temporarily released on its official website short videos of Lawani and Arafat professing their faith in Allah and willingness to become a “martyr.”

The two suicide bombers were believed to have crossed into Israel from Egypt after Gaza-based militants 13 days ago blew up the Gaza-Egypt border wall, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to stream into the Egyptian Sinai desert. Israel has a long border with Egypt, much of which is unprotected.

Today, Israeli forensic experts who coordinated with Palestinian security officials discovered Lawani and Arafat were not the bombers who exploded themselves, according to security sources.

The Hamas terror group today claimed responsibility for the suicide attack in text messages to journalists and on Hamas’ official TV station. Hamas identified the two attackers as Mohammed Herbawi and Shadi Zghayer.

According to terrorist sources and Palestinian security officials in Gaza speaking to WND, when the Egypt-Gaza border was breached two weeks ago, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the PFLP and several other terrorist organizations sent several suicide bombers with explosive belts into the Egyptian Sinai desert with instructions to attempt to infiltrate into Israel along the country’s long border with Egypt.

Israeli security officials realized the Al Aqsa Marytrs Brigades – after hearing of yesterday’s successful suicide operation – mistakenly thought it was their bombers who had reached Israel and detonated their explosives and, in a rush to take responsibility, the Brigades released the names of their two bombers.

Thanks to the Brigades’ mistake, Israeli security agencies now have the identities of two potential Brigade suicide attackers.

Israeli and Palestinian security sources said it is estimated either the two equipped bombers are still in Egypt or may have infiltrated into Israel. Security has been beefed up along the Egypt-Israel border, and Israeli police and military units have been acting on intelligence leads regarding potential bombers in Israel.

Israel believes as many as a dozen potential suicide bombers with explosive belts were sent into the Sinai the past two weeks to infiltrate the Jewish state, Israeli security sources said.

Yuval Diskin, chief of Israel’s Shin Bet Security Services, warned during a speech to the Knesset yesterday that some Palestinian terrorists who crossed into the Egyptian Sinai desert the past two weeks relocated themselves to form terror cells in strategic areas bordering Egypt.

The Shin Bet chief said Israeli intelligence is aware of at least 20 specific locations at the Israel-Egypt border currently in use by Palestinian terrorists in attempts to infiltrate the Jewish state to carry out attacks. He said security has been boosted at those locations, but he stressed the need for Israel to immediate construct a security fence along the entire Israel-Egypt border.

To interview Aaron Klein, contact M. Sliwa Public Relations by e-mail, or call 973-272-2861.

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