Israel resumed its targeted assassinations in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday with the killing of a senior al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist by a car bomb in Gaza City.Palestine Press Agency, and others note that Namnam was driving one of the new cars that Israel has been allowing into Gaza. Hamas had announced that they were sweeping all the new cars to search for booby traps and tracking devices.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) confirmed Wednesday night that together with the Israel Air Force, it had carried out an operation to kill 27-year-old Mohammed Namnam, a top operative with the Army of Islam, a radical Palestinian terror group affiliated with al-Qaida and involved in the 2006 abduction of Gilad Schalit.
“Earlier today, the Israeli army targeted a ticking bomb,” IDF spokeswoman, Lt.-Col. Avital Leibovitz, told reporters in a conference call.
According to the Shin Bet, Namnam, from the Shati refugee camp, was responsible for a number of attacks against Israel in recent years.
The security agency added that it had obtained intelligence indicating that Namnam was in the midst of planning attacks against American and Israeli targets in the Sinai Peninsula.
Even though Hamas certainly decides who gets the new cars, this Army of Islam leader - who was said to be at odds with Hamas - managed to obtain one. Hmmmm.
PalPress also mentions that sources say Namnam had married a woman from Afghanistan.
The unreliable but sometimes illuminating Debka says that it was actually a US rocket that killed Namnam, shot from a warship in the Mediterranean. It says that Namnam was involved in a planned second wave of attacks against the US after the package bombs that were discovered en route to the US this week. The report says that Al Qaeda planned to attack US Marines stationed near Sharm el Sheikh, and that Egypt is cooperating with the US in stopping the group.
(h/t Joel)