VIDEO - Members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian and the al-Aqsa Brigades, Fatah's military wing, confirmed Monday that the two suicide bombers who carried out the attack in Dimona had entered Sinai from the Gaza Strip and infiltrated Israel through Egypt .
The Israeli defense establishment also believes that the bombers came through Egypt and were aided by elements inside Israel, perhaps Bedouins at the border area.
Egyptian security sources reported Monday that police had detained a Palestinian man carrying explosives in the border town of Rafah.
They said the man had been carrying an amount of TNT, but gave no further details.
In a separate incident, five Palestinians were detained in Sinai on their way to the capital Cairo, security sources said. The men were not carrying weapons or explosives.
Abu Fouad, a spokesman for the al-Aqsa Brigades, said in a press conference in Gaza that "the attack has been planned for a month, but was only made possible after gunmen bombed the fence at the Philadelphi route on January 23."
Since the border was breached, Israeli defense officials have expressed their fear that terrorists would infiltrate Sinai through the Strip and enter the Negev.
One of the bombers was identified as Mussa Arafat, a Khan Younis residents affiliated with the Abu Ali Mustafa Brgades, the PFLP's military wing.
The second bomber was Lawai Lawani, an al-Aqsa member from Gaza's Sabra neighborhood.
Scene of attack (Photo: Yonat Atlas)
The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah's military wing, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, and the United Resistance Brigades have claimed responsibility for Monday's terror attack in Dimona, Hizbullah's television station al-Manar reported.
Abu al-Walid, a senior al-Aqsa Brigades official, said in a phone conversation with al-Manar, "We succeeded to carry out the attack today and we take responsibility for it, along with the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades and the United Resistance Brigades, in response to the occupation and the killing of children and innocent people in the West Bank and the Strip."
Gaza celebrations (Photo: Reuters)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the suicide bombing in Dimona on Monday but also levelled censure at an earlier military raid by Israel in the occupied West Bank.
"The Palestinian Authority expresses its full condemnation of the Israeli military operation this dawn in (the Palestinian village of) Qabatiya just as it condemns the operation that took place today in Dimona," a statement from Abbas's office said.
Palestinian teens in the Gaza Strip handed out candy and sweets in response to the attack.
Hanan Greenberg and Reuters contributed to this report
First published: 14:48, 02.04.8