Troops nab would-be Palestinian bomber, 14-Israel

Reuters | 3/24/04

[kattracks]

HAWARA CHECKPOINT, West Bank, March 24 (Reuters) - Israeli troops on Wednesday arrested a 14-year-old Palestinian would-be suicide bomber at a West Bank checkpoint after talking him into taking off his explosives vest at gunpoint, the army said.

The incident at Hawara checkpoint, which was televised internationally, came nine days after a Palestinian porter of 12 was detained there on suspicion of trying to smuggle through a bomb and then freed after soldiers determined it was put into the boy's bag without his knowledge.

Militant factions have vowed to escalate attacks to avenge Israel's assassination of Hamas's spiritual leader on Monday. Palestinian witnesses named the 14-year-old arrested on Wednesday as Hussan Abdu from Nablus, just north of Hawara. The Israeli checkpoint commander said troops had assumed a safe distance after noticing the youth acting suspiciously.

"He was taken by surprise by the reflexes of the soldiers, who were very quick and aimed their weapons at him and took cover. He understood the explosion would not be effective as all the troops were already protected," the lieutenant-colonel, who gave his name as Guy, told Israel Radio.

He said troops ordered the youth to remove his shirt, exposing the vest underneath, and tossed him a pair of scissors with which to cut it free.

Sky television aired footage showing Abdu removing the bulky vest, which had a detonator wire hanging from it, as soldiers and Palestinian passersby watched from safety behind concrete barricades. Under instruction from an Arabic-speaking soldier, the youth is seen to raise his hands in surrender. Guy said a bomb had been defused by a remote-controlled robot and that the youth was being questioned.

Guy said it was not clear who had dispatched the youth. There was no immediate comment from Palestinian militant groups waging a more than three-year-old uprising.

Islamic militant group Hamas has led calls for stepped-up attacks against the Jewish state since its founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, was assassinated in an Israeli air strike on Monday.

Israel accused the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, of slipping a bomb into the bag carried by the 12-year-old boy detained at Hawara on March 15. The Brigades denied involvement.

[Gefreiter]

They should have made him detonate it.

[pdbeaches]

I think I read on an earlier thread where the Isrealis stopped an eight year old child trying to do the same thing.

[2banana]

The religion o'peace and tolerance has a leadership that are cowards to coerce boys to do jobs they are afraid of doing...

[Alouette]

I read on an earlier thread where the Isrealis stopped an eight year old child

It's the same kid. The Israelis estimated his age from his neight and weight. Then he lied about his age. Then the media will guess a different age, and then the Palestinians will deny it altogether.

[lilylangtree]

These murdering scumbag palis have nothing redemptive about them when they use children to fight their wars for them.

[pdbeaches]

ooooohhhhhh! Thanks for clarifying.

[js1138]

Second one today. And a kid last week? Methinks the Israelis have somehow upgraded their ability to detect bombs entering their territory. Perhaps that is why they feel confident in going after the terror leaders.

[js1138]

It would be a good strategy to search entering Palestinians in large groups, so if a bomb goes off it takes mostly their women and children.

[MrB]

Here's an idea.
A booth/tunnel that is bomb proof that all palis have to walk through, singly, to get into the city.
While walking through, some sort of electrical charge or microwave system would be used to detonate any explosives carried.

Since this kid didn't set of the explosives when it was clear that he would be the only one dead, my idea may work as a deterrent.

[marvlus]

Well, I guess it's too late for the late Sheikh to bless this child.

[pitinkie]

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13025609,00.html

[richardtavor]

That's interesting--this kid is getting older by the second. Earlier today, it stated that he was 8 years old, now Reuter's added 6 years.

[george wythe]

Is this the same story already posted in Breaking News?

Soldiers catch Palestinian boy wearing explosive belt

Is this a different story about another boy at the same Hawara roadblock south of Nablus?

I'm bewildered.

[FierceDraka]

As a parent of a 14 year old, I think that any society that induces people so young to strap explosives to their bodies and kill innocents deserves to be utterly annihilated. Scatter the survivors, bulldoze their cities, and salt the f*cking earth.

Islam has degenerated into the modern incarnation of the old Hindu Thuggee cult of ritual killing to please their god.

The British wiped out the Thuggee.

[End Times Sentinel]

Then he lied about his age. Then the media will guess a different age, and then the Palestinians will deny it altogether.

Are you saying we can't trust the palis???  Then who can ya trust?

Owl_Eagle

" WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH"

[bruin66]

There was no immediate comment from Palestinian militant groups waging a more than three-year-old uprising.

Thanks, again, Reuters. How about three-year-old reign of terror against innocents.

[adam_az]

"Then who can ya trust?"

The UN of course. ;)

[lonevoice]

If the technology of such a thing is feasible, I like your idea very much. It sounds like a more effective deterrent than anything else I've heard.