Just two weeks after Mohammed Namnam was killed in a
combined Israel-US-Egyptian targeted assassination in Gaza City, an Israeli
airborne missile struck again Wednesday, Nov. 17, and killed two more commanders
of the Al Qaeda-linked Army of Islam. debkafile's counter-terror sources name them as brothers, Islam
Yasin and Muhammad Yasin. They were in the middle for preparations for a new
wave of terrorist attacks in Sinai aimed at hitting US military targets and
kidnapping Israelis vacationing in Sinai for ransom in Gaza.
Our military sources add that the Israeli missile hit the Subaru car in which they drove in the
center of Gaza City. That the preparations continued after Namnam's death
is a measure of Al Qaeda's determination to bring its plans forward. The Yasin
brothers worked according to the original plan which was due for imminent
execution - only adding more targets. They were plotting to abduct
Israeli holidaymakers in Sinai and spirit them to the Gaza Strip through Hamas's
arms smuggling tunnels. Our sources note that the Army of Islam also took
part in Hamas's abduction of Gilead Shalit more four years
ago.
Israeli travelers in Sinai are warned they are still in danger and
advised to leave.
The plot included an attack on the Multinational Force and Observers North Base base under US command at El Gorah, 37 kilometers southeast of the Sinai port of El Arish.
The plot included an attack on the Multinational Force and Observers North Base base under US command at El Gorah, 37 kilometers southeast of the Sinai port of El Arish.
The plot was revealed during the
interrogation of 25 Army of Islam accomplices captured by Egyptian intelligence
units at Sheikh Zuwayid in North Sinai. The high number of helpers points to
the large scale of attacks the Al Qaeda-linked terrorists were
planning.
In another counter-terror operation on the West Bank Wednesday,
Palestinian Authority security forces in Nablus rolled up a Hamas terrorist
network, whose members were getting ready for a series of suicide
attacks.
debkafile's sources
report that, contrary to other reports, this network had not
targeted Jerusalem but had rigged a suicide bomb-car for the assassination of
the Palestinian governor of the city Jibril Baker.
This attack was to have kicked off Hamas' operations
against the Palestinian Authority on the West
Bank.