Series of Reports on the Death of Alleged Hamas Bombmaker- 30 Mar 98 to 9 Apr 98

Excerpted from: ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services- Monday, March 30, 1998 Vol. 4 - 089

BEITUNYA, WEST BANK (EmergencyNet News) - A Palestinian intelligence official said on Monday that a member of the Moslem terrorist group HAMAS was killed when an explosives-laden car blew up near the Palestinian-ruled city of Ramallah in the West Bank.

The intelligence official said, "One man died. He belonged to HAMAS. His arm and leg were blown off when the car exploded."

The blast in the Beitunya industrial area west of Ramallah happened late on Sunday. The explosion occurred on the eve of Land Day, when Palestinians and Israeli Arabs hold annual protests against Israeli land expropriation. Israeli media reports speculated the man killed in the blast had planned to detonate a car bomb in Israel.

Excerpted from: ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services- Wednesday, April 1, 1998 Vol. 4 - 091

LEAD FOCUS

PALESTINAIANS SAY HAMAS BOMBMAKER WAS MURDERED

By Steve Macko, ERRI Risk Analyst

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (EmergencyNet News) - According to Palestinian security forces on Wednesday, the Palestinian man found at the scene of a car bomb explosion earlier this week has been identified as the top HAMAS fugitive in the West Bank. New information has made the case even more interesting. The dead fugitive, Mohiyedine Sharif, was apparently shot to death before the blast.

Palestinian officials say they do not know who killed Sharif, who was believed to have masterminded a series of suicide bombings in Israel, including two in Jerusalem in July and September 1997. HAMAS leaders, as could be expected, blamed Israel for Sharif's slaying.

Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a HAMAS leader in the Gaza Strip, said, "HAMAS cannot forget its members and they (the Israelis) have to understand that HAMAS is in the habit of taking revenge."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied Israel was responsible for Sharif's death and said, "We had no part in the incident that took place."

Israeli media has raised the possibility that Sharif was killed in a HAMAS power struggle. The last time a HAMAS bombmaker was killed -- Yehiye Ayyash, who was assassinated in January 1996 in an operation widely attributed to Israel -- HAMAS retaliated with four suicide bombings.

The 32-year-old Sharif was seen as Ayyash's heir, and Israel held him responsible for a pair of suicide bombings in Jerusalem in 1997. He was at the top of Israel's most wanted list.

Palestinian security officials initially were unable to identify Sharif's body, which was found near a car that was rigged with dozens of pounds of explosives that blew up Sunday in a garage in an industrial part of the West Bank town of Ramallah. The body was badly disfigured by the force of the blast, which also leveled the garage.

A Palestinian pathologist said Sharif was shot twice in the chest and once in a leg about three hours before the explosion. Palestinian security officials said in a statement that the car bomb was triggered by remote control and have now ruled out their initial assumption that Sharif was killed in an accident.

Excerpted from: ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services- Thursday, April 2, 1998 Vol. 4 - 092

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (EmergencyNet News) - Enraged by the death of HAMAS' chief bombmaker, Palestinians threw stones at Israeli soldiers in several West Bank towns on Thursday. In response, thousands of Israeli troops tightened controls at West Bank roadblocks and patrolled markets, bus stations and malls in Jerusalem. The circumstances of Mohiyedine Sharif's death remain in dispute, with Palestinian police saying he was assassinated with shots to the chest and Israel saying he died accidentally when a HAMAS bomb exploded prematurely.

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N.AFRICA-MIDDLE EAST-S.ASIA

JERUSALEM (EmergencyNet News) - In response to the apparent murder of its chief bombmaker, Muhyideen al-Sharif, the military wing of the Muslim terrorist group HAMAS threatened to attack Jewish targets worldwide on Wednesday. In a leaflet, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam brigades blamed Israel for Sharif's death and said such attacks: "will push us, with no other choice, to transfer our battle outside the homeland to get the Zionist interests all over the world."

The statement also said: "The Zionists must watch the strong, violent, earthquake reaction" and that retaliation would be "quicker than many people can imagine."

The Qassam brigades called on its "striking groups" to mobilize and "destroy all the interests of the cowardly Jews in the enemy army and settlers all over our holy land."

Excerpted from: ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services- Friday, April 3, 1998 Vol. 4 - 093

JERUSALEM (EmergencyNet News) - The military wing of the Moslem militant HAMAS terrorist group vowed to launch attacks against targets inside and outside of Israel to avenge the killing of one of its master bombmakers.

Excerpted from: ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services-Saturday, April 4, 1998 Vol. 4 - 094

GAZA (EmergencyNet News) - An official of the militant HAMAS terrorist organization on Saturday renewed its threat to launch attacks against Israel and said the killing of a master bombmaker could be avenged only by "spilling blood."

Senior HAMAS terrorist Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi said, "We tell Netanyahu revenge is definitely coming and al-Qassam Brigades said they would definitely launch revenge attacks and their hands would target the enemy inside and outside the homeland."

On Friday, thousands of Palestinians went to the streets after Moslem prayers calling for revenge for the death of Muhyideen al-Sharif, a HAMAS master bombmaker known as "Engineer 2."

Rantissi told hundreds of HAMAS activists at Saturday's rally at Gaza's Islamic University: "The death of such Qassam people as you, Sharif, can only be avenged by the spilling of blood! We tell this filthy Jew Netanyahu...only you (Israelis) are targeted! The Jews are the killers and we don't want to hear voices defending them."

Excerpted from: ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services-Monday, April 6, 1998 Vol. 4 - 096

LEAD FOCUS

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY SAYS HAMAS KILLED ITS OWN BOMBMAKER
From the ERRI Watch Center

JERUSALEM (EmergencyNet News) - A senior Palestinian official was saying on Monday that a Palestinian Authority investigation has found that HAMAS master bombmaker Muhyideen al-Sharif was killed by other members of HAMAS in a dispute over money and tactics. The official said Palestinian security officers have arrested five members of the terrorist group, including one who has confessed to planting explosives in a car beside which Sharif's body was found in the West Bank on 29 March.

The Palestinian official also said that a large quantity of arms and explosives had also been recovered from the terrorists. Tayeb Abdel- Rahim, one of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's most senior aides, led the inquiry into Sharif's murder. Abdel-Rahim said he had informed HAMAS leaders in the West Bank of the results and would also convey the findings to the group's leaders in Gaza.

The senior Palestinian official said the official inquiry had shown that Sharif's killing was a result of "internal political and financial disputes in HAMAS." He said Sharif had been fatally shot by another senior Qassam member, who was still at large. Another terrorist, now under arrest, had then planted time bomb charges which blew up the car to make the death appear as an accident.

The unnamed official said, "We have documents detailing the internal rifts in HAMAS, and we have video film and pictures. The investigation revealed very important details and it led to the uncovering of large quantities of highly explosive material, weapons and time bombs in the Ramallah area."

Excerpted from: ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-ERRI Risk Assessment Services-Thursday, April 9, 1998 Vol. 4 - 099

HAMAS ISSUES MORE THREATS

From the ERRI Watch Center

JERUSALEM (EmergencyNet News) - The military wing of the Palestinian terrorist group HAMAS issued a leaflet and a videotape on Wednesday calling on Arabs and Muslims worldwide to attack Jewish targets in revenge for the death of its chief terrorist bombmaker.

In the leaflet, the group said: "We call upon all the Palestinian people and ... all the lovers of Islam and Palestine and everyone working for the Palestinian interests worldwide to begin painful attacks against Zionist and Jewish interests worldwide."

In a videotape sent to a Western news agency in Jerusalem, a masked man who identified himself as Adel Awadallah -- a leading HAMAS figure and a suspect in Sharif's death -- accused Yasser Arafat's West Bank security chief Jibril Rajoub of collaborating with Israel in the killing.

The London-based Foreign Report said on Wednesday that Sharif was killed by Palestinian security officials in an effort to prevent an attack against Israel. But Palestinian officials earlier this week accused Awadallah, who now tops Israel's most wanted list, of assassinating Sharif in a power struggle for leadership of HAMAS. The man in the videotape denied the charge.

An Israeli television station said a report to be released by the Palestinian Authority would reveal that the sharif was kidnapped by rivals in HAMAS, who forced him to confess to handing over secrets about the organization to Israel. Sharif is said to had been kidnapped on 13 March -- 16 days before his body was found next to a bombed car in the West Bank city of Ramallah. After a lengthy interrogation, Awadallah's brother, Imad, is said to have shot and killed Sharif and placed his body next to a car rigged with explosives in order to cover the killing.

All stories above: (c) Copyright, EmergencyNet NEWS Service, 1998. All Rights Reserved. Redistribution without permission is prohibited by law.

The ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT is a subscription publication of the EmergencyNet NEWS Service, which is a part of the Chicago-based Emergency Response and Research Institute. This publication specializes in Security/ Terrorism/Intelligence/Military and National Security issues.

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