Terror plot against Tel Aviv-Jerusalem train thwarted

[oberliner]

An Islamic Jihad terror cell planning to wire the tracks of one of Israel's busiest train lines was arrested in a joint IDF and Shin Bet operation near Bethlehem last month. Their arrest was cleared for publication Thursday afternoon.

The military operation also uncovered an explosives laboratory used by the cell, which had already assembled a functional explosive device.

The four Palestinian cell members confessed in their questioning to planning numerous attacks against Israeli targets, including a plot to detonate explosives along the train tracks leading from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, tracks that pass near the Bethlehem area.

The cell had also planned to bomb Israeli cars on Route 60 (connecting Beersheba to Nazareth and via the West Bank) and attack a local security patrol unit belonging to the Beitar Illit settlement. They also planned to hurl improvised grenades at a military vehicle and steal the soldiers' weapons.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3495629,00.html

[LeftishBrit]

1. Whew, I'm glad this was thwarted!

Islamic Jihad are a particularly nasty group. And putting bombs on public transport is a really vicious practice (so are any bombs, but here you generally really don't know who you're killing, except that it's likely to be quite a lot of people).

[oberliner]

2. Hard to imagine what they are hoping to accomplish

If their attack had been succesful, can you imagine the consequences for all concerned?

How can they even believe that such an attack would help the Palestinians (or do they even?)?