Bombmaker indicted for Hadera attack

Islamic Jihad member charged with 18 counts, including murder, shootings.

By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
hadera bombing 298 (photo credit: AP)
hadera bombing 298
(photo credit: AP)
Iyad Hussein Abu al-Roub, 31, a former Islamic Jihad commander in Jenin, was indicted in the Samaria Military Court on Sunday. He was believed to be responsible for the Hadera suicide bombing in which six Israelis were killed on October 26, and for planning an attack on a school in Yokne'am that was thwarted by security forces. Also Sunday, the security services received 70 intelligence reports of plans to carry out terrorist attacks. According to security officials, 13 involved concrete threats, with the majority stemming from northern Samaria.
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Roub was charged on 18 counts, including murder, attempted murder, shooting attacks, possession of bombs and membership in an illegal organization. He was arrested by security forces in November. He was appointed Islamic Jihad's Jenin commander after Amjad Abeidi, the planner of the suicide bombing at the Maxim restaurant in Haifa on October 4, 2003, was arrested. Security officials said that Roub maintained contacts with Islamic Jihad operatives in Syria, who supplied him with funds. According to the charge sheet, Roub made the explosives belt that was used in the suicide bombing in Hadera, as well as the belt used in an attack at Sde Trumot in June 2003 in which one Israeli was killed. In both instances he instructed the suicide bombers how to detonate the bombs; he drove the Sde Trumot attacker to the site. In 2001, according to the charge sheet, Roub purchased weapons and, together with other members of his cell, carried out a number of shooting attacks on cars on the road leading to Ma'aleh Gilboa. No one was wounded. He also allegedly planned two attacks that were thwarted by security forces: a car bombing in September 2003 and a suicide bombing at a Yokne'am school in December 2003. Roub was also involved in a failed attempt to carry out a bombing at a restaurant at a Jordan Valley gas station in July 2004, according to the charges. Also Sunday, two Kassam rockets were fired at Israel from the northern Gaza Strip, shortly after IDF artillery shelled open areas used to launch rockets in the past. One Kassam landed near a school in a kibbutz just outside the Gaza security fence, and another landed near Ashkelon. No one was wounded and no damage was reported. Before dawn, security forces arrested four unarmed Palestinians attempting to cross into Israel near the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza. The four were handed over to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) for questioning. In the West Bank, an Israeli motorist was lightly wounded by stones thrown at her car as she drove near Sinjil north of Ramallah. She went to a hospital in Jerusalem for treatment. A bomb was detonated near border policemen at Rachel's Tomb outside of Bethlehem Sunday. No one was wounded, but security forces clashed with Palestinians stone-throwers. Shots were fired at an IDF patrol near Jenin; no one was wounded in the attack. At Kaffin west of Jenin, a pipe bomb was detonated near workers building the security fence. Soldiers came to the scene and found a second pipe bomb. They captured a suspect and handed him over to security officials for questioning. In the evening, shots were fired at an Israeli car near Bet a-Fokka south of Nablus; no one was wounded and no damage reported. Also Sunday evening, two Arabs were moderately wounded on Sunday by gunfire at the Shuafat checkpoint in North Jerusalem. Ambulances from Magen David Adom took the victims to Hadassah-University Hospital, Ein Kerem. Yigal Grayeff contributed to this report.