Twenty Turkish Hizbullah members sentenced to life
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
DIYARBAKIR - Reuters
A Turkish court sentenced 20 members of the outlawed Turkish militant Islamist group Hizbullah to life imprisonment on Monday for killing civilians, ending a case that lasted 13 years.
The group, which killed scores of people in the late 1980s and early 1990s, targeted mostly Kurds in Turkey's southeast region during fighting between Turkish security forces and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The ruling is the first against the shadowy organization, which has said it wants to overturn Turkey's secular state and introduce Islamic Shariah law.
Turkey's Hizbullah is not linked to the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
The 20 defendants were charged with murders between 1990 and 1994.
Another two defendants were given a sentence of 16 years due to their young age when the murders were committed.
28 Febrero 2007
10:57 28/02/2007
Border Police troops kill three Islamic Jihad militants in Jenin raid
By Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff, and Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondents, and Agencies
Three Palestinian militants were killed and an elite undercover Border Policeman lightly wounded Wednesday during a raid in the West Bank town of Jenin.
Meanwhile, five Qassam rockets hit the western Negev on Wednesday morning. One of the rockets damaged a fence belonging to a local town.
Three rockets hit open areas, while the fifth struck near the Gaza Strip security fence. There were no injuries in any of the strikes.
According to the Israel Defense Forces and Border Police, all three men killed in Jenin were Islamic Jihad members - Ashraf Sa'adi, a senior member of the group, and two of his aides, Mohammed Abu Nas'ah and Ala Bareiki.
Palestinian sources confirmed the three were in fact militants, adding that two civilians including a 12-year old girl were also wounded in the operation.
The 28-year-old Sa'adi was responsible for shooting attacks and bombings in the Jenin area, as well as attempts to dispatch suicide bombers to Israel. Abu Nas'ah assisted in carrying out attacks and handle finances, and according to the Shin Bet, Bareiki too assisted in carrying out attacks.
A spokesman for Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, Abu Ahmad, vowed a swift response. "This new crime will not pass without tough punishment," Abu Ahmad said in a text message sent to reporters. "Their blood will be the fuel of our holy battle. And our reaction is coming soon."
The three were sitting in a car when a black car drove up alongside them, witnesses said. According to the IDF and Border Police, Sa'adi noticed the undercover troops, and opened fire in their direction, wounding the Border Policeman in the shoulder.
The Border Police troops returned fire, killing the three passengers. The injured Border Policeman was taken for medical treatment.
At midmorning Wednesday, several thousand people, including gunmen firing into the air, joined a funeral procession in Jenin for the three dead militants.
Islamic Jihad tried last week to carry out a suicide bombing in Israel but the bomber, who was from the Jenin area, was caught in Bat Yam.
Last week, the same undercover Border Police unit killed the senior Islamic Jihad bomb maker who was responsible for dispatching the suicide bomber.
In Nablus, the IDF is continuing its large-scale operation "Hot Winter," which is focusing primarily on carrying out arrests in the casbah. Schools in the city were closed, and access routes to hospitals were blocked.
The IDF nonetheless significantly reduced its troop presence in the city Tuesday.
As of yet, several wanted men have been arrested, and troops have discovered three weapons factories and an arms cache.
Military sources said Tuesday the operation would continue in accordance with intelligence information.
Also Tuesday, a Qassam rocket hit an open area south of Ashkelon, causing no injuries. IDF troops came under fire east of Qalqilya and north of Ramallah, as well as in two separate incidents along the Gaza Strip. In all of Tuesday's incidents there were no injuries.
28 Febrero 2007
