PFLP leader's son killed in Beirut car explosion

The Jerusalem Post ^ | 5/20/2002 | ASSOCIATED PRESS

[eclectic]

The son of radical Palestinian guerrilla leader Ahmed Jibril was killed Monday in a Beirut car bombing, Lebanese Hezbollah guerrilla television reported.

Al-Manar, the television station of the Hezbollah guerrilla group which has close links to Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, said Jibril's son, 40-year-old Jihad, died in the explosion.

It said it had received the confirmation from Jibril's headquarters in Damascus, Syria.

The blast occurred at midday on a street off the busy shopping area of Corniche Mazraa. Lebanese police officials speaking on customary condition of anonymity said the explosion was caused by a bomb placed under the driver's seat of the Peugeot sedan.

Ambulances, sirens wailing, rushed to the scene of the explosion. Police sealed off the area and opened an investigation.

The blast wrecked the car, shattering its windows and turning its front section into a twisted heap. Its white rear door had turned red with the victim's blood and flesh was scattered for a few meters around the car.

The blast also damaged neighborhood shops and parked cars but, apart from the driver, there were no other casualties.

[eclectic]

Does being the son of a known terrorist make one also a known terrrorist?

Info to you: Jihad Jibril was the head of the military wing of PFLP... Got that?

[BlueLancer]

"...could it be that his own people did this because he was assisting Israel or other forces who are trying to thwart terrorism?"

And the downside to this is ... what? With a little luck, they'll start eating each other while the Israelis can and the rest of the world can watch their self-destruction.

200 years from now, I want their children's children's children's children to cower and cringe in fear whenever they hear the sounds of jet engines overhead because their legends tell of fire from the sky.

I want them to hide in dark caves and holes in the earth, shivering with terror whenever they hear the roar of diesel engines because the tales of their ancestors talk about metal monsters crawling over the earth, spitting death and destruction.

I want their mothers to be able to admonish them with "If you don't behave, the Pale Destroyers will come for you", and that will be enough to reduce them to quivering obesience.

I want the annihilation to be so complete that their mythology will tell them of the day of judgment when the stern gods from across the sea .. the powerful 'Mericans .. destroyed their forefathers' wickedness.

Kill them all ... nits make lice.
COL Chivington (Sand Creek)

[hexpoppy]

MOSSAD---------Making the world safer, one terrorist at a time.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

Does being the son of a known terrorist make one also a known terrrorist?

didnt your parents warn you as a child about the company you keep

[Thinkin' Gal]

the explosion was caused by a bomb placed under the driver's seat of the Peugeot sedan.

Serves 'em right. D*mn French can't spell.

[tupac]

Thank you for establishing the deceased's credentials. If what you say is true (and I have no reason to doubt you), then I apologize to any who may take offense at my ignorance. For those who did not know who he was, I stand by my statements.

[tet68]

Cut the BLUE wire!

[varon]

............apart from the driver, there were no other casualties.

A good example of "low tech" precision bombing ;-)

[Clean Sweep2]

"could it be that his own people did this because he was assisting Israel or other forces who are trying to thwart terrorism? "

Well this is unlikely and total speculation.

[tupac]

You must forgive me, I just saw a movie that has had an affect on my thinking lately. Twelve Angry Men. Seen it?

[tet68]

Didn't his mother ever tell him......."Don't carry detonators and explosives in the same vehicle!"

Mine did. "Mother" O'hara, S-3 weapons section.

[the_second_moon]

FYI, Jihad is the older son of Ahmad Jibril. Jihad and his brother, Phars, are the heads of the Terror section in the National Front organization. This organization was behind the killing of 10 Israelis near Metzoba in the north of Israel (where they shot at passing cars). In addition the organization is trying, aided by hizbualla and Syria, to carry attacked inside Israel.

[ClancyJ]

Could this be terrorism against terrorists? Surely not. Terrorism is only for "innocent" victims.

[TomGuy]

Explosion in Beirut Kills Son of Palestinian Guerrilla Leader

By Sam F. Ghattas Associated Press Writer
Published: May 20, 2002


BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - The 38-year-old son of Palestinian guerrilla leader Ahmed Jibril was killed Monday in a Beirut car bombing, the group said.

Jihad Jibril was a senior commander of military operations in Lebanon for his father's faction of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, which is on the State Department list of terrorist organizations for its attacks on Israelis and its opposition to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

A somber-looking Ahmed Jibril accepted condolences at his office in Damascus, Syria, shortly after receiving the news but did not comment. An aide blamed "Israel alone." Ahmed Jibril's wife, Um Jihad, wept when told by telephone that her son was killed. News of the attack was first broadcast on radio and television in the Lebanese capital.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on charges it was behind the bombing.

PFLP-GC officials in Damascus would not immediately discuss what had happened. They said Jihad Jibril's body would be taken to Damascus for a funeral Tuesday.

Jibril's PFLP-GC is a small Syrian-based guerrilla group that rejected peace with Israel and opposed the Oslo process that started negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians after secret talks that concluded in 1993. Jibril and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have been enemies for at least two decades.

In one of its most notorious attacks, a PFLP-GC guerrilla landed a hang-glider near a military outpost in northern Israel in November 1987 and killed six soldiers with hand grenades and a machine gun before being killed himself.

Last month, the senior Jibril warned that suicide bombings against Israelis would continue in retaliation for Israeli military attacks.

However, the PFLP-GC has not claimed responsibility for suicide bombings since the latest violence erupted in September 2000. Last month, the PFLP-GC and two other rival groups each claimed to have blown up an Israeli tank in the Gaza Strip.

But the PFLP-GC was accused by Lebanese authorities of firing rockets across the Lebanese border into Israel in April at the height of the West Bank offensive and of seeking to launch more attacks on the Jewish state. Nine Palestinians who Lebanese authorities said belonged to the PFLP-GC have been arrested on charges of illegal possession of weapons and threatening national security.

Last year, Jibril acknowledged that his group had sent to the Palestinian territories a weapons shipment that was seized by the Israeli navy - and he promised more to come.

Monday's blast occurred at midday on a street off the busy shopping area of Corniche Mazraa in Beirut's Muslim sector.

A Lebanese police official at the scene, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the explosion was caused by a small stick of plastic explosive that was placed under the driver's seat of the Peugeot sedan.

The blast wrecked the car, shattering its windows and turning its front section into a twisted heap. Its white rear door had turned red with the victim's blood and flesh was scattered for a few yards around the car.

The blast also damaged neighborhood shops and parked cars but, apart from the driver, there were no other casualties.

Jihad Jibril was commander of military operations in Lebanon and a member of the PFLP-GC's executive committee leadership. He had taken military courses in Libya and had the rank of a lieutenant colonel. In addition to his military activities, he was in Lebanon studying law at a Beirut university. He is survived by his wife and two sons, 10-year-old Ahmed and 6-year-old Ali.

During the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war, car bombs were frequent in Lebanon as a way to settle scores among the various warring groups. But they had become rare as the government restored its authority across the country.

Most recently, a January car bomb killed Elie Hobeika, a former Cabinet minister and ex-militia leader, along with three bodyguards.

AP-ES-05-20-02 0855EDT

[ohioman]

I am sure, after your inane comments, that no one here will lose any sleep.

[ClancyJ]

Dance on, callous ones.

Yep, we get that way as we watch attack after attack on civilians. Why are only civilians supposed to suffer terrorist attacks? Maybe a few terrorists should also have to worry about having their guts blown all over the place.

[Dog Gone]

What did the Mossad know,and when did it know it?

If Israel was behind this, they should be condemned. It's fortunate that dozens of innocent civilians weren't killed or wounded in the blast.

I don't think Israel would do such a thing in Beirut for that very reason. It's great that the guy was killed, but there was no need to endanger others. I suspect this was the result of Palestinian infighting.

[sweetliberty]

Obviously this was deliberate, so tell me, are we supposed to:
a. assume that the guy did it to himself and just got his timing off?
b. see that the Israelis are terrorists too?
c. believe that this was a retaliation attack by the Israelis?
d. realize that the Palestinians were willing to sacrifice one of their own to make it appear that the bad ol' Israelis practice "terrorism" too?
e. feel sorry for the Palestinians?

"A" is unlikely. The well-to-do big shots do NOT do the dirty work themselves. They send flunkees underlings and children. "B" is not the style of the Israelis. "C" is possible though unlikely. "D" Is highly probable. They may even have decided to kill two birds with one stone if this individual had become problematic. It would have been a good way to eliminate a "problem" and generate sympathy at the same time. I don't think it will work. "E" - I don't feel sorry. Do you feel sorry?

[jbstrick]

The MOSSAD was most likely the culprit. They are experts at this kind of operation. Their mission is to protest the citizens of Isreal. Like in our War innocents may be killed. Better them than me!.