Palestinian terrorists were willing to sacrifice a 10-year-old Arab boy in the course of an attempt to perpetrate a terrorist attack against Israelis today (Monday).

Palestinian terrorists were willing to sacrifice a 10-year-old Arab boy in the course of an attempt to perpetrate a terrorist attack against Israelis today (Monday).

The incident occurred this afternoon at the Hawara checkpoint near Shechem in the Shomron. An alert policewoman saw a boy carrying three packs, including one with wires coming out. She questioned him briefly, and he stuttered that he has been asked to deliver it to someone. The policewoman put the suspicious bag aside, and called the commanding officer. He distanced everyone from the site, and sappers detonated the bomb in a controlled explosion.

Witnesses said that “screws and nuts flew in all directions, and a small crater was formed at the site.” The explosives vest was estimated at 7-10 kilograms. The bomb was apparently meant to go off via the activation of a cellular phone in the bomb-pack - but a technical “mal”-function prevented this. The explosion that would have ensued was meant to kill not only Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint, but also the Arab boy.

The boy was taken for questioning, and related that he had been promised a large sum of money to carry the pack across the checkpoint. The Israeli intelligence forces believe that he did not know he was carrying a bomb, and he was released towards evening. The forces are now looking for the men who sent the boy, as well as the man who was to have received the package.

See “http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP14700″ for an article from November 2000 decrying similar phenomena.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 16th, 2004 and is filed under news.