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Last update - 12:18 23/02/2008
IDF arrests senior PFLP operative in Nablus refugee camp
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
Tags: Nablus 

Israel Defense Forces soldiers arrested a senior operative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the Ein Beit el Ma refugee camp in the West Bank town of Nablus, Israel Radio reported on Saturday.

Palestinian witnesses told Israel Radio that the contingent of troops surrounded the building in which the suspect, Majdi Mabrouka, took refuge, and used an explosive charge to break through the entrance. Two people, including a 10-year-old boy, were injured during the course of the operation, a hospital doctor said.

Mabrouka carried an M-16 with a sniperscope and 15 ammunition clips at the time of his arrest, the IDF said. Mabrouka is a local leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small PLO faction, and is suspected of involvement in shooting attacks on Israeli troops, the military aid.
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Mabrouka also recruited members for gun squads in the area and supplied them with weapons, the military said.

Israeli authorities have sought Mabrouka's arrest for a number of years, during which the PFLP operative successfully eluded the grasp of security forces.

In one incident a year and a half ago, Mabrouka was wounded by IDF gunfire, according to Israel Radio.

Significant detachments of IDF soldiers were also observed operating in the West Bank town of Tul Karm late Friday night, Palestinians told Israel Radio.


Wanted militants return to Palestinian jail
A group of Palestinian militants who walked out of a Palestinian Authority prison in the West Bank town of Nablus on Thursday returned to jail voluntarily, a Palestinian security official said Friday.

The prisoners, members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, had been involved in fighting against the IDF in recent months and were hiding in Nablus' old city, the Kasba. Some six weeks ago, the group turned itself in to the PA, following a comprehensive IDF operation in the Kasba.

The IDF agreed to let the militants, who are wanted by Israel, stay in the Palestinian prison on condition that the Palestinian security forces keep them incarcerated and deny them weapons and contact with terror organizations until Israel pardons them.

So far, however, Israel has refused to include the men in the pardon agreement for Fatah fighters, under which Palestinians give up their arms in return for an Israeli amnesty.

Thursday afternoon the entire group broke out of prison, apparently with the help of their Palestinian wardens. One of the escaped prisoners is Mahdi Abu Ghazale, commander of the Al-Aqsa Brigades' Night Horsemen.

Ghazale announced Thursday that the group had decided to leave after the prison authorities reneged on the conditions they had agreed on when they turned themselves in. Ghazale and his group were set to hold a news conference in Nablus but apparently canceled, fearing for their
safety.

Palestinian journalists who visited Jneid Prison recently reported that the militants had been kept in real prison conditions. They had mobile phones but were not allowed to contact militant organizations and their calls were being monitored.

Among the other fugitives are Omar Akub, Ala Akub, and Sufian Kandil. PA officials have tried to persuade the militants to turn themselves in.

An Israeli defense source said that as far as Israel knew, only nine militants had broken out of the prison. The IDF warned the PA that if it did not capture the escapees within 24 hours the army would take action against them, as at least some of them are seen as a risk to Israel's security.


Related articles:
  • Nine wanted militants in Nablus turn themselves in to PA custody
  • Official says PA dismantling Al-Aqsa and other militant groups
  • Israeli suspected of dealing in arms with Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade
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