- Michelle
Source: Reuters
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA | Sun Oct 14, 2012 9:00am IST
(Reuters) - An Israeli air strike killed the Palestinian leader of an al Qaeda-affiliated group in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Hamas and medical sources said.
Gaza Medics said a second militant was also killed in the strike. The after-dark attack targeted the two men who were riding a motorcycle in the northern town of Jabaliya.
The interior ministry of Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, said one of the men killed was Hisham Al-Saedni, also known as Abu Al-Waleed Al-Maqdissi, believed to head the Jihadist Salafi group Tawhid and Jihad (One God and Holy War).
Sources from Tawhid and Jihad could not be reached to confirm that Saedni was killed.
The group, rival to Hamas, has an Islamist ideology shared by al Qaeda and sources have said that Saedni joined al Qaeda in Iraq at the beginning of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
In March 2011 Hamas detained Saedni for 17 months and had freed him in August.
Last year members identifying themselves with Tawhid and Jihad kidnapped and killed a pro-Palestinian Italian activist, Vittorio Arrigoni, in an apparent attempt to secure the release of Saedni.
An Israeli military spokesman could not confirm Saedni was the target of the air strike. A written military statement said the two men targeted were "terror operatives of the Shora Council of the Mujahideen, a Gaza-based Global Jihad affiliate."
The same group had claimed responsibility for a rocket that was fired into Israel on Friday and landed near a house in the Israeli town of Netivot, causing damage but no casualties.
In response, a few hours later, the Israeli military launched three air strikes against what it said were "terror activity sites". There were no casualties reported in those attacks.
Israel says it holds Hamas responsible for any attacks launched from Gaza, which has been under the group's control since 2007. An Israeli military spokesman said that about 40 rockets wer e fir ed from Gaza into Israel in October.
Hamas rejects permanent peace with Israel and the two sides fought a three-week war in December-January 2008-2009. The border is tense, with frequent clashes.
A number of Jihadist Salafi groups have surfaced in Gaza in recent years. Unlike Hamas, they endorse an ideology of global Jihad and some accuse Hamas of failing to implement Islamic laws in the coastal enclave.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Diana Abdallah, Jon Hemming and Jason Webb)
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(Reuters) - An Israeli air strike in Gaza killed a Palestinian gunman and wounded another on Sunday, hospital officials said, hours after Israel killed the leader of an al Qaeda-linked militant group.
An Israeli military spokesman confirmed there had been an Israeli attack in Gaza but gave no details.
The air strike, on a motorcycle in southern Gaza, came hours after Israel killed two other militants in a similar attack late on Saturday.
Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza, identified one of the men killed in that air strike as Hisham Al-Saedni, head of the Jihadist Salafi group Tawhid and Jihad (One God and Holy War), a group with an Islamist ideology shared by al Qaeda.
A number of Jihadist Salafi groups have surfaced in Gaza in recent years. Unlike Hamas, they endorse an ideology of global Jihad and some accuse Hamas of failing to implement Islamic laws in the coastal enclave.
Hamas rejects permanent peace with Israel and the two sides fought a three-week war from December 2008 into January 2009. The border is tense, with frequent clashes. About 40 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel in October.
Israel says it holds Hamas responsible for any attacks launched from Gaza, which has been under the group's control since 2007.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Bill Trott)
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IDF Gets Tough – Third Strike in 24 Hours
Source: Arutz Sheva
By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The IDF foiled a terrorist attack early Sunday in the third counterterrorist strike in 24 hours, sending a clear massage to Hamas.
The Air Force successfully targeted a cell preparing to fire at Israelis, an IDF spokesmen said. The latest counterterrorist measure killed at least one terrorist.
On Saturday, Air Force jets struck three terrorist targets in northern and central Gaza in retaliation for a Grad missile attack on Netivot Friday night.
In the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, the Air Force struck a second time in a significant counterterrorist action that eliminated two senior terrorists on motorbikes. They were identified as Jordanian national Sheikh Hisham al-Saedini, 43, also known as Abu Al-Waleed Al-Maqdissi, of the Mujahedeen Shura, and fellow Salafist Islamic terrorist Fayek Abu Jazar, 42. News services described him as an “activist.”
Saedini was one of the founders of the Mujahedeen Shura in Jerusalem. The terrorist group operated as part of the worldwide Jihadist war and was involved in several attacks and plots against Israeli civilians and soldiers.
The Mujahedeen Shura carried out the January 2009 attack on an arty patrol, killing one soldier and seriously wounding an officer. The same terrorist group also planted dozens of bombs along the IDF patrol route at the Gaza security fence and also fired on soldiers.
Saedini at one time was jailed by Hamas for his activities in the rival terrorist organization but was released in August despite Hamas’s knowledge of his involvement in terrorism.
Israel’s counterterrorist actions have intensified the past week.
Before the three strikes in the last 24 hours, Israeli jets on Thursday raided a Hamas training several hours after Gaza terrorists fired two rockets into southern Israel.
On Wednesday, the Israeli air force struck targets in northern Gaza after rocket fire that was also claimed by the Mujahedeen Shura Council.
Earlier in the week, the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad launched a barrage of fire at southern Israel-- a day after the Air Force raided the southern city of Rafiah, targeting two global jihad activists, one of whom died. The other was critically wounded.
The continuation of Gaza rocket fire on Israel by Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists marked a rare show of force given that the two groups normally claim they observe a de facto truce.
More than 480 rockets or mortar rounds have been fired at southern Israel from Gaza this year, according to the IDF.
