Palestinian militant group figure killed (a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades)

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - An Israeli airstrike on a car killed two Palestinians, including a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Tuesday in the Jebaliya refugee camp, Israeli and Palestinian security officials said.

One of those killed was identified as Hassan Madhoun, a senior member of Al Aqsa, an offshoot of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement. Three people were wounded in the strike.

Dozens of angry Al Aqsa members rushed to the local hospital where the bodies were taken. The gunmen fired into the air and chanted "revenge, revenge."

Good question.

Here's a snapshot of him from earlier this summer.

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Terrorists Call for Ending Ceasefire
01:19 Jun 22, '05 / 15 Sivan 5765

http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=84333

(IsraelNN.com) Hassan Madhoun, a senior official in the al-Aqsa Brigade of Fatah is calling for an end of the ceasefire with Israel and a renewal of terror attacks.

Madhoun confirmed reports that the female suicide bomber apprehended at Erez on Monday is affiliated with his organization, adding there are dozens of others waiting to blow themselves up against Israelis.

Madhoun stated the female bomber was planning to blow herself up at the army installation adjacent to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva.

9/26/04 Haaretz Daily ,, some of Madhoun's "work"

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Elaborate plot brought bombers to Ashdod

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=457671&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

Details of the indictment filed this month in the Erez Checkpoint Military Court against the Palestinian security officer who allegedly planned the double suicide attack at the Ashdod Port on March 14, revealed sophisticated planning and implementation.

Details of the indictment against Mua'in Ahmed (Atallah), an officer in the Gaza Preventive Security force are based on his confession to the Shin Bet after his arrest in June. They demonstrate the effort involved in the attack, in which ten Israelis were killed.

Two suicide bombers were smuggled into the port in a double-backed shipping container and it appears a large number of people involved - more than 10 according to the prosecution.

With the outbreak of the intifada in September 2000 and the IDF policy to open fire on Palestinians approaching the fence around the Gaza Strip made it difficult for terror organizations to smuggle suicide bombers into Israel.

The Palestinians sought alternatives, for example sending two Muslim Britons citizens to blow themselves up at Mike's Place pub in Tel Aviv in April 2003, killing three Israelis. When this was foiled, Hamas hit on the idea of smuggling bombers into Israel in a container bringing goods from Gaza to Ashdod Port.

Ahmed, 39, of the Jabalya refugee camp, who had been a member of Fatah's Al Aqsa Martys Brigades since 2002 and occasionally assisted others in carrying out terror attacks, was the officer responsible for security on the Palestinian side of the Karni checkpoint. Another Fatah operative, Hassan Madhoun, suggested the idea of the double-walled container to Ahmed.

At the beginning of March, Madhoun commissioned construction of a 13-meter-long container from an acquaintance, whom he told he needed it to transport furniture. Five Hamas and Fatah members were then brought in to plan the false back of the container, leaving a 50-centimeter space in which the bombers, one from Hamas and the other from Fatah, would be hidden together with the explosives. The wall was designed to pass the Israeli laser checks without arousing suspicion.

Ahmed, who was familiar with Israeli security procedures, gave advice, including a suggestion to attach metal struts to prevent the false back from falling off when the container was lifted. Metal workers attached the back, along with a latch which allowed the bombers to open it from the inside.

Another operative who worked at the Ashdod Port supplied blueprints of the facility. Ahmed saw to it, at the behest of his Fatah superiors, that the Palestinian security checks went smoothly. A few hours after the container went through the checkpoint, the two bombers blew themselves up at different points in the port.

Subsequently, another attempt was made to smuggle two bombers through the Karni checkpoint, this time hidden in a wagon, the construction of which was planned by the same group that planned the container. As part of the plan, Madhoun gave Ahmed 10,000 dinars with which to establish a trucking company whose vehicles would carry additional bombers.

Two young men, who were to assist Ahmed in the passage area were chosen because of their "clean" security past that would not arouse Israeli or Palestinian suspicions, were about to receive work permits on the Palestinian side. The plans for the second attack were thwarted by Ahmed's arrest in June.

Palestinians gather around the wreckage of a car after it was hit by an Israeli missile strike in the Jebaliya refugee camp adjacent to Gaza City Tuesday Nov. 1, 2005. Israeli aircraft fired missiles at the car, killing two top fugitives, one from Hamas and one from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Israeli and Palestinian security officials said. Nine bystanders were wounded in the strike in the Jebaliya refugee camp. One of the dead men was identified as Hassan Madhoun of Al Aqsa, accused by Israel of being the mastermind of a bombing in Israel's Ashdod port that killed 10 Israelis in 2004. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Palestinians remove a damaged car after an Israeli air strike in the Jabalya refugee camp north of Gaza Strip November 1, 2005. Israel killed two Palestinian militant commanders with an air strike on their car in a Gaza refugee camp on Tuesday, a day after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon demanded Palestinian leaders wage a war against armed groups. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

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