Alleged attacker is from east Jerusalem. He reportedly confessed to carrying out attacks on his own that killed two Israelis. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced on Tuesday that it has solved the double Jerusalem bus bombing attacks from last month that killed two Israelis.
The Shin
Bet said that six days after the attack, its operatives arrested Aslam Farouk,
an Arab from east Jerusalem and alleged supporter of ISIS, on suspicion that he
was involved in the attacks. Two bombs planted at two different bus stops – one
at the entrance to Jerusalem and one near the neighborhood of Ramot – detonated
within half an hour of one another on November 23.
Two
Israelis – Tadasa Tashume Ben Ma’ada and Arye Shechopek – were killed in the
attacks.
Farouk,
26, from Kafr Akab in east Jerusalem, recently completed his engineering
studies. According to the investigation, Farouk studied radical Islamic
ideology online and learned there also how to create explosives. He brought the
ingredients for the explosives to the Judean Desert and carried out tests there
on different bombs.
On the
day of the attacks on November 23, Farouk arrived by motorcycle at the bus stop
at the entrance to Jerusalem at around 6 a.m. where he planted the first bomb
and then drove to the Ramot intersection – just about 2 kilometers away – where
he planted the second device. Each bomb weighed approximately 1.5 kilograms and
they were detonated by cellphone.
How did
the Shin Bet catch Farouk?
The
suspect was identified after security forces matched his DNA with findings at
the scene of the bombings. Another suspect, a friend of Farouk’s, was also
detained on suspicion that he was involved in planning another attack with an
explosives belt.
The Shin
Bet discovered Farouk’s motorcycle which he had tried to clean after the
bombings as well as another larger bomb – weighing about 5 kg. – which the
alleged attacker had planned to plant at the Ramot intersection and detonate
after security forces arrived following the first explosion. Due to a technical
glitch on the morning of the attack though, Farouk decided to only plant one
bomb at the site.
News of
the arrest came just a day after the Shin Bet announced that it had prevented a
massive terrorist bombing attack slated to occur within Israel. It said it
arrested a number of terror suspects in the West Bank and uncovered a number of
operatives in the Gaza Strip.
The
terror cell, the agency said, was busted and its plans thwarted on December 14,
with those involved undergoing interrogations in recent weeks. The agency said
the bomb had been built, was ready for use and was seized before it could be
detonated.
The
suspects arrested were part of the West Bank’s “Resistance Committees” and
al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, with influence and planning from Gaza terrorist
operatives. The bomb was similar to the one that was used in the attack on a
bus stop in Jerusalem last month that killed two people.
