It was cleared for publication Tuesday that in early November a joint Shin Bet and IDF force apprehended a senior Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades member who later admitted to killing Israeli Maryk Gavrielov in Ramallah six years ago.
Muhammad Saidi, a resident of the al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah, said during his interrogation that he and Atzam Faruah, an al-Aqsa member jailed in Israel since 2003, killed Gavrielov in October 2000.
Saidi said he and Faruah met Gavrielov in Ramallah when the Israeli arrived at the West Bank city with two Israeli-Arabs on order to sell a car to a resident of al-Amari. According to Saidi, Faruah then told him that he wants to kill Gavrielov to avenge the death of his brother; it was then that the two al-Aqsa members decided to kidnap the Israeli.
Gavrielov left the home of the Palestinian who purchased the car and drove off with the Israeli-Arabs, but the now hooded al-Aqsa members were in hot pursuit of the vehicle, and at some point stopped the Israelis’ car and placed Gavrielov inside their own.
The terrorists continued driving with Gavrielov inside the vehicle, and upon reaching the Bituniya area they shoved the kidnapped Israeli out of the vehicle and shot him to death with an M-16 rifle. They proceeded to place his body in the trunk and set the vehicle ablaze.
Saidi futher admitted to being involved in a series of terror attacks against Israeli targets, including shooting attacks at IDF forces.
Saidi, 26, was held in an Israeli prison for three years, but was released in 2005, at which time he continued his terror activity within Islamic Jihad and began climbing the ranks of the organization.
Meanwhile, IDF soldiers operating in the West Bank overnight Tuesday arrested Said Sulieman, the head of the Islamic Jihad’s Jenin branch.
Security establishment officials said a search of the building Suleiman was staying in found a pistol and two clips.