(Ha'aretz) Gili Cohen - The Israel Security Agency last month arrested five Hamas operatives from east Jerusalem and Ramallah who were plotting to bomb the Mamilla mall just outside the Old City of Jerusalem during the holiday season beginning this week, the agency said Sunday. They were planning to cover the bomb in wrapping paper to make it look like a present, then place it in a restaurant, cafe or store while the mall was filled with shoppers. Two members of the cell have Israeli identity cards, which allow them to "enjoy freedom of movement...to carry out terror attacks inside Israel." The two east Jerusalem residents were working as maintenance men in the mall. Israeli investigators discovered a homemade bomb in the home of Hamdi Romana, 22, a resident of Ramallah in the West Bank. The terror cell was planning other attacks, including planting a bomb in Ramallah that would target Israeli soldiers, firing rockets at Israeli settlements near Ramallah, and firing at soldiers at the Hizme checkpoint in northeast Jerusalem.
2013-09-02 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive