Palestinian security prevent attack on Gaza border

The militants, driving in two vehicles, opened fire at members of national and preventive security who were manning a post close to Karni, the main trade crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel, security sources and the office of the Palestinian Authority president said Wednesday.

The security forces ordered the militants to stop but instead they began shooting at the post.

According to Palestinian security sources, the militants had been planning an anti-Israeli suicide attack on Karni by driving a jeep into the crossing.

The militants who intended to carry out the attack fled the scene in their second car but only after abandoning the first vehicle containing two explosive devices, later detonated by members of the security forces.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but security sources believe those planning the attack were members of the Popular Resistance Committees.

The security forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are under the control of Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas rather than the Hamas-led government and are drawn largely from the ranks of his Fatah movement.

The Popular Resistance Committees is an umbrella militant organisation which includes disaffected Fatah activists and Hamas sympathisers.

One of its leaders, Jamal Abu Samhadana, was named last week by Hamas interior minister Said Siam to a senior security post but Abbas vetoed the appointment, as well as a decision to create a new volunteer security force.

A statement from the president's office said one of the six people wounded was in a serious condition.

"We have asked the interior ministry to find out who was responsible and to bring them to justice as soon as possible because this attack was against the Palestinian national interests," said the statement.

A source in the Israeli military said the shooting had been heard on its side of the border.

"When we heard shooting, we immediately evacuated the non-security people on our side," said the source.

The Karni crossing has been the target of several previous Palestinian attacks, including a triple suicide bombing in January 2005 that left six Israelis dead as well as the three attackers.

It has also been subject to lengthy closures and has been sealed off for much of 2006, with the Israeli authorities citing security fears.

Source

About headlines and content that has changed after it was added to this site - see disclaimer here

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.