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Tel Aviv Bombing Trail Leads to Damascus Alon Ben-David

(Jane's) Omar Khan Sharif, 27, who fled the scene of a Tel Aviv bombing after failing to activate another explosive-packed vest, "appears to be quite resourceful for someone planning to commit suicide and who had no getaway plan," a senior Israeli security source said. "After realizing that there was a malfunction in his explosive charge he immediately dropped the belt and while running away from the scene he managed to snatch a purse from a citizen, probably to obtain some cash." "This is the behavior of a well-trained person, rather than a naive ideologist, who managed to hide and escape in a foreign country," the source claimed. Israeli Intelligence sources allege that Sharif and Asif Mohammed Hanif, 21, who detonated his belt at the entrance to a Tel Aviv waterfront cafe, killing three Israelis, first met one another in Damascus. The men were met in Damascus by Hamas representatives, Israeli intelligence claims, but received training from another group, possibly Hizballah or al Qaeda. The Tel Aviv attack, if shown to have been planned and directed out of Damascus, comes at an inconvenient time for the Syrian government, which is trying to soothe damaged relations with the U.S. While Secretary of State Colin Powell has stated that the Syrians have reported shutting down the offices of some terrorist organizations, Israeli intelligence sources have long argued that no such action has in fact been taken.
2003-05-08 00:00:00
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