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The police and Shin Bet captured an East Jerusalem-based Hamas cell on Saturday night which is suspected of having carried out eight terror attacks in Israel in recent months, in which 35 people were killed and dozens injured.
Among the attacks was the suicide bombing at Moment Cafe in Jerusalem in which 11 people were killed and the bomb attack at the Hebrew University cafeteria on Mt. Scopus in which nine people died.
The members of the cell have Israeli identity cards, affording them freedom of movement around the country.
The main members of the 15-man cell was uncovered Saturday in Jerusalem by an elite unit as two of its members were on their way to Tel Aviv to carry out another attack, it was released for publication Wednesday.
One suspect was caught at a surprise checkpoint, while another fled and was picked up by a third cell member. The fugitives were caught after a chase through Jerusalem.
During their interrogation, the cell members disclosed that the bomb they planned to use in the attack was hidden on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway.
Mohammed Uda, one of the cell members from Silwan, carried out the attack at Hebrew University where he worked for an Israeli contractor as a painter, Israel Radio reported.
Familiar with the university, Oudeh chose the Frank Sinatra Cafeteria as the site for the bombing knowing that few Arabs frequented the cafeteria and that foreign students ate there.
Uda received the explosives from accomplices in the West Bank town of Ramallah, where the cell command was located, security officials said. On the night before the attack, he jumped over the university's fence and hid the explosives under a bush.
The next morning, he walked through the main gate using his employee's permit, picked up the bomb and planted it in the cafeteria. He then left and detonated the explosives with a cell phone from a distance, the officials said.
The day after the attack, he received a telephone call to come and help paint the scorched interior of the cafeteria.
After his arrest, Uda told investigators he was sorry for what he had done since so many people died in the university attack, the officials said. The other members of the cell who were arrested did not express remorse and some said they were proud of the attacks, the officials said.
Oudeh's brother Samr Oudeh denied Wednesday that his brother had been involved in any militant activity.
"My brother just goes from home to work ... and has nothing to do with any other thing," Samr Oudeh told The Associated Press outside his east Jerusalem home as Mohammed's six-year-old son Hamza stood crying nearby at the mention of his father. "I deny the charges that the Israelis are trying to put on him."
Wa'al Kassam, the leader of the cell, and Uda carried out the attack at Moment Cafe. Uda collected information on the target, while Kassam picked up the suicide bomber and dropped him off at the coffee shop.
One of the cell members also carried out the attack in which he attached an explosive device to a fuel tanker near Holon, followed the truck all the way to the Pi Glilot fuel depot on the outskirts of Tel Aviv and then detonated the bomb. There were no injuries in the bombing, which raised fears in Israel that Palestinians were trying to carry out a mega-terror attack.
"This is something I feared," said Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert in response to the capture of the cell. "I assumed that things below the surface were not as (calm as) they seemed," the mayor added, referring to the fact that few East Jerusalem residents have been involved in attacks since the start of the almost two-year-old intifada.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai said he had sufficient information from the Shin Bet to annul the residency of the members of the cell.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Ra'anan Gissin, said that the fact that suspects had Israeli identification cards demanded finding "the proper measures in order to curb" militant activity in east Jerusalem.
Attacks carried out by the cell:
* Suicide attack at Moment Cafe in Jerusalem in March 2002, in which 11 people were killed and 58 injured.
* Suicide attack at a Rishon Letzion billiard hall in May 2002, in which 15 people were killed and 45 injured.
* The planting of a bomb on a fuel tanker which blew up while the truck was being filled at the main Pi Glilot depot on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. No injuries.
* The planting of a bomb on the train tracks close to Lod station in June 2002. Four people were injured in the explosion.
* The planting of another bomb on the train tracks near Rehovot in July 2002 in which the driver of the locomotive was injured.
* The bomb attack at the main cafeteria of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in July 2002, in which nine people were killed and 84 injured.
* The planting of a bomb on another fuel tanker, which exploded near Rishon Letzion, in August 2002. One person was injured.
The main members of the cell are:
* Wa'al Kassam, 31, a resident of Ras El Amud, was the leader of the cell and was involved in all the attacks.
* Wisam Abassi, 25, a resident of Silwan, gathered information on possible targets and helped carry out the attacks.
* Aladin Abassi, 30, resident of Silwan, gathered information for the cell and was involved in carrying out attacks.
* Mohammed Uda, 29 resident of Silwan, gathered information for the cell and was involved in the attacks.
* A 27-year-old resident of the West Bank village of Harbata was also arrested for supplying the cell with explosive devices. |
