The IDF announced last night that it had killed a senior Hamas commander who was in the process of preparing a terrorist attack against Israelis. Bakar Hamdan, 27, was successfully targeted by an army helicopter gunship missile attack in Khan Yunis, and two persons driving with him were wounded. Hamdan was responsible for dozens of shooting, bombing, and mortar attacks in the Gaza area, most notably the assault on the Africa Outpost two weeks ago near Kibbutz Kerem Shalom that claimed the lives of four Bedouin soldiers of the IDF’s Desert Brigade.

PA forces arrested Hamdan the day after the Kerem Shalom attack, but released him shortly thereafter. He was imprisoned in Israel between 1993-1996 for his Hamas activities. GSS intelligence reports that Hamdan was planning another Africa Outpost-type attack against an army outpost or Jewish community in the Gaza area, and that if they had waited another week, it would have been too late.

IDF troops killed two more armed terrorists last night as the latter were trying to commit an attack on a Jewish town in Gush Katif. The soldiers spotted the cell of armed terrorists as it clandestinely advanced towards the community. The soldiers opened fire, and the terrorists were killed by a tank shell in the ensuing battle.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 27th, 2002 and is filed under hotnews.