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Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit
Controlled explosiong of bomb materials
Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

Terror cell planned to lure IDF soldiers into deadly blast

Indictment served against Mutassem Salem—who accepted a $100,000 offer from an Al-Nusra Front activist in Syria to carry out terror attacks—details how he planned to bomb Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and a settlement and to detonate decoy explosion to lead IDF soldiers to their deaths.

The indictment that has been submitted against a ringleader of a Nablus-based Hamas terror cell that was planning to carry out bombings in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and a West Bank settlement, details how he and his co-conspirators were controlled by an operator in Syria and how they plotted to lure Israeli soldiers to a decoy explosion before detonating a powerful bomb.

 

 

Two of the Hamas activists from Nablus who headed the cell were responsible for producing the bombs and attempted to recruit more terrorists into their ranks. They were identified as Mutassem Salem, 35, and Fares Zawidi, 33.

 

An indictment will be submitted against Zawidi in the near future, but Salem has already been charged.

 

 (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

The indictment details how Salem agreed to the proposal offered by an Al-Nusra Front activist in Syria of $100,000 in exchange for carrying out multiple attacks in Israel. The Al-Nusra member then sent him a list of chemicals required for producing a bomb.

 

At a later date, Salem approached another activist who was part of the terror network and convinced him to assist him in preparing the bomb in exchange for money.

 

Shortly after, according to the indictment, the defendant visited a number of pharmacies in Nablus and purchased 40 liters of hydrogen peroxide and 20 liters of acetone. Ten liters of acid that he bought in a site that sells car batteries was then added to the lethal concoction.

 

The chemicals were then given to two other activists who were in on the plot, but when it proved difficult for them to convert them into bombs, Salem gave them to Mahadi al-Qa’abi—a teacher who specialized in chemicals who agreed to help.

 

Last November, the members of the cell, which was headed by Salem, began working on their bombs in a laboratory that was set up in an abandoned building in Nablus.

 

 (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

 

According to the indictment, the terror cell members began producing a bomb made from chemical substances and Salem was asked to provide Salicylic acid and fertilizer. The terrorists shared files on the internet while searching for information on how to assemble bombs intended to be strapped to explosive belts.

 

In an attempt to avoid surveillance by Israeli cyber security teams, the indictment continues, the cell members copied documents and videos onto a USB stick using codes. Only afterwards, after being aided by their online preparation lists, did they actually begin working on producing the explosives.

 

Moreover, the indictment says that Salem recruited a man in eastern Jerusalem who volunteered to carry out the suicide bombing. Taking extra precaution, he is believed to have used a third party to coordinate with the volunteer, who was asked to proceed with caution.

 

The indictment details how at a later date, the cell decided to recruit another suicide bomber and to obtain firearms (two M-16 machine guns) with the intent of carrying out attacks against other targets. Eventually however, a dispute developed between the members, some of whom insisted that the suicide bombing had to be carried out in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, while others argued that a Jewish settlement in the West Bank should be the target.

 

 (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

 

The whole time, the Al-Nusra Front activist continued to issue instructions from Syria and promised to send them all $5,000 in order to add another 25kg of explosive materials to the charges and 300 liters of nitric acid.

 

As the cell was in the middle of planning the attack, the suicide bomber from east Jerusalem decided to back out, leading the terror masterminds to switch up the plan and instead detonate the bomb remotely.

 

According to the new plan, the first bomb that they assembled would be placed next to the Itamar settlement and would be detonated from afar, causing noise only as a decoy. Only when IDF soldiers arrived at the scene would the powerful and lethal explosive be detonated.

 

The indictment says that one of the heads of the terror cell attempted to draw inspiration for the attack by viewing a video and pictures of the terrorists who murdered Rabbi Raziel Shevah at the beginning of the year.

 


פרסום ראשון: 06.17.18, 20:44
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