Would-be teen bomber arrested in Jerusalem

17-year-old girl allegedly offered Islamic Jihad to carry out a suicide bombing in the capital.

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
belt 224.88 (photo credit: IDF [file])
belt 224.88
(photo credit: IDF [file])
A 17-year-old Arab female from Jerusalem is under arrest for allegedly offering to carry out a suicide bombing in the city, police said Thursday. The would-be bomber, a resident of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of A-Tur who was apprehended three weeks ago in a joint Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency)-police operation, suggested to Islamic Jihad operatives in the West Bank that they use her to carry out a terror attack due to her hatred of Jews and "personal family problems," Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said. As part of her enlistment, the teen traveled to Mecca to "purify" herself after undergoing a series of tests by the Palestinian terror group to ensure that she was not an Israeli mole, police said. The two Islamic Jihad operatives have also been arrested. The attack was still in the early planning stages when the suspects were nabbed by Israeli security officials. The teen, who has confessed to the allegations against her, said that her family had no knowledge of her plans to become a suicide bomber, police said. The suspect, who cannot be named because she is a minor, has been remanded in custody by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court until her expected indictment on Sunday, at which time police are expected to ask the court to extend her remand for the duration of her trial. A court-imposed gag order on the case was partially lifted Thursday afternoon when the suspect was remanded. Earlier this month a 73-year-old Israeli woman was killed in a suicide bombing in Dimona, in the first such attack in over a year.