The mystery of the identity of the Dimona suicide bombers seems to have been solved.
You will recall that a number of terrorist organizations claimed responsibility for the murderous attack, including Fatah’s Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the PFLP, and Hamas. Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Hamas even released names of the bombers, with the former claiming they were Luay Al-Ghawani and Mousa Arafat, and the latter claiming they were Mohammed Herbawi and Shadi Zghayer.
When Israeli media released images of the “second” bomber, who had been shot before he did the explosive deed, Al Aqsa tried to explain away the fact he did not look like Mousa Arafat.
“Luay Al-Ghawani was the one who blew himself up, while Mousa Arafat was hit by several bullets to the head resulting in changes in his facial features, yet Al-Aqsa Brigades identified him from his body features..”
As I said yesterday, this sounded like a really bad lie.
Now it looks like I was correct, and the bombers were from Hamas.
Here’s the Hamas-released photographs of the bombers:
And here’s a picture of the “second” bomber’s body:
He seems to be wearing the same clothes as we see in the Hamas-released photographs.
This, coupled with Al Aqsa’s pathetic attempt to explain the dissimilarity between the body and who they claimed was the bomber, indicates that the bombers were indeed from Hamas.
Update: Ok, it’s official.
Hamas on Tuesday claimed responsibility for Monday’s suicide bombing in Dimona, saying it was carried out by two operatives from Hebron. The organization identified the bombers as Mohammed al-Hirbawi and Shadi al-Zaghair.
Hirbawi, 20, had been arrested when he was 15 and spent two and a half years in an Israeli prison.
Hamas’ announcement put an end to more than a day of speculation about the identity of the terrorists and their place of residence. A gag order remains on publishing details of the Shin Bet security service’s investigation. Palestinian sources in Hebron said that the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet have arrested several relatives of the two bombers.
Update: WorldNetDaily reports that the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades erred in naming their people as the bombers, since it alerted Israel to the fact that the men they named are on their way to perpetrate an attack.
A terrorist gaffe has provided Israel with crucial information that could help stop a potentially imminent suicide attack, WND has learned.
Yesterday, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in the Israeli Negev desert city of Dimona, killing one woman and injuring 11 others, including at least one man who is in critical condition.
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Immediately after the attack, a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group called both WND and a reporter from Israel’s popular Ynetnews website to take credit for the bombing on behalf the Brigades and another terror organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
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The Brigades leader provided WND with the names of the two bombers – Mussa Arafat, a PFLP terrorist from the Gaza city of Khan Younis, and Lawai Lawani, an Al Aqsa Brigades member from Gaza’s Sabra neighborhood.
Calls by WND to the families of both Arafat and Lawani in Gaza discovered the two men, both in their 20s, left their homes and have not been heard from all week.
Later yesterday, the Brigades temporarily released on its official website short videos of Lawani and Arafat professing their faith in Allah and willingness to become a “martyr.”
The two suicide bombers were believed to have crossed into Israel from Egypt after Gaza-based militants 13 days ago blew up the Gaza-Egypt border wall, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to stream into the Egyptian Sinai desert. Israel has a long border with Egypt, much of which is unprotected.
Today, Israeli forensic experts who coordinated with Palestinian security officials discovered Lawani and Arafat were not the bombers who exploded themselves, according to security sources.
The Hamas terror group today claimed responsibility for the suicide attack in text messages to journalists and on Hamas’ official TV station. Hamas identified the two attackers as Mohammed Herbawi and Shadi Zghayer.
According to terrorist sources and Palestinian security officials in Gaza speaking to WND, when the Egypt-Gaza border was breached two weeks ago, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the PFLP and several other terrorist organizations sent several suicide bombers with explosive belts into the Egyptian Sinai desert with instructions to attempt to infiltrate into Israel along the country’s long border with Egypt.
Israeli security officials realized the Al Aqsa Marytrs Brigades – after hearing of yesterday’s successful suicide operation – mistakenly thought it was their bombers who had reached Israel and detonated their explosives and, in a rush to take responsibility, the Brigades released the names of their two bombers.
Thanks to the Brigades’ mistake, Israeli security agencies now have the identities of two potential Brigade suicide attackers.
Israeli and Palestinian security sources said it is estimated either the two equipped bombers are still in Egypt or may have infiltrated into Israel. Security has been beefed up along the Egypt-Israel border, and Israeli police and military units have been acting on intelligence leads regarding potential bombers in Israel.
Which explains their obvious lie after seeing the body. They wanted to cover up their gaffe.
