Islamic Jihad terrorist Elias Ashkar, who masterminded the terror attack at in Tel Aviv last month, has been killed by the IDF. Commander Herzl Halevy of the IDF 'Menashe' Brigade discussed Ashkar on Army Radio this morning:
COMMANDER HALEVY: Elias Ashkar has been wanted for many months. He was active in Islamic Jihad. He wasn't its head, but he developed and became stronger over time, and in the last terrorist attack, he was the principal planner. And during the last two weeks, we have received information that he intended to carry out additional terrorist attacks. I'm glad that we succeeded yesterday in using our intelligence correctly, and in this way we have prevented those terrorist attacks and he is now out of the picture. There was an attempt made to arrest him, and then fighting broke out, and it is important to emphasize that everyone that was wounded or killed yesterday in Kabatya, were those with weapons who were firing at the IDF.
Q: Commander Herzl Halevy, what can you tell us with regard to the intelligence that you received or the intentions of Elias Ashkar to carry out further terrorist attacks?
COMMANDER HALEVY: With regard to intelligence, I don't think that this is the place to discuss it.
Q: But was there a particular specific warning? (inaudible)
COMMANDER HALEVY: It was a specific warning that he was about to carry out terror attacks, and during the last two weeks we worked together, many units of the IDF, the Shin Bet and the police, in order to prevent, first of all a terror attack, and to acquire this intelligence. And several times we were able to confound attempts in other locales. And in preventing these terrorist attacks, I think that yesterday we could say with regard to this individual - he is finished.
Q: Yes. Did you receive intelligence yesterday that Ashkar was located at this house in Kabatya near Jenin? And then the 'Yamam' squads started to surround the building? What happened at that point?
COMMANDER HALEVY: Not surprisingly they started to fire at our units. Kabatya is a village that is built in a depression (inaudible) and we were being fired on from the surrounding areas. So in the crossfire, we hit them and at the time of firing, Allah himself and another fugitive that was with him in the building started shooting. We gave them several opportunities to stop and to surrender, but I don't think they considered this a viable option. The fighting went on for more than an hour and in the end they were both killed.
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