Sunday, March 16, 2014

15-Mar-14: Terror and safety in the work-place

Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, one of the most lethal of the currently-active Egyptian terror groups, and the main source of terrorist activities in the increasingly chaotic Sinai peninsula, has just announced the termination of the career of one of its founders.

According to AFP quoting the terrorist group, Tawfiq Mohamed Fareej died last week when a bomb he was transporting in his car exploded prematurely when the vehicle was involved in a traffic accident. They are now saying Fareej was in charge of the bloody cross-border terrorist attack on southern Israel on August 18, 2011 that killed 8 Israelis. Eight Israelis, six of them civilians and two security force personnel, died in that attack. [See our report: "19-Aug-11: Summarizing the events of Thursday"] 

Fareej was probably also involved in a string of sabotage attacks on the Egypt-to-Israel gas pipeline, a failed assassination attempt on the life of Egyptian interior minister, Mohammed Ibrahim, on September 6, 2013, and the bombing of an Egyptian police building [see our report "26-Jan-14: Sinai's terror problems are now Cairo's nightmares"]. 

Among other recent 'work accidents' involving jihadists and Islamists:
  • Yesterday (March 14, 2014): An intending car bomber in Somalia, thought to be part of the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab jihadist organization, accidentally detonated his explosives prematurely while attempting a terror attack on a hotel in the capital, Mogadishu. No one else was killed or injured in the failed murder attempt. [Source: AP/Washington Post]
  • March 11, 2014: Four Palestinians were killed on Tuesday in a house explosion in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, in what local officials have termed a work accident. Hamas reported on its website that the four were activists in its Izz a-Din Al-Qassam military wing, and said that their bodies were transferred to a hospital in Gaza. According to reports, the blast came from inside the house and was not the result of any external rocket or explosives [Source: Haaretz, "Four killed in Gaza, apparently while making bomb"].
  • March 9, 2014: The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades division of Hamas mourned the untimely death in Rafah (Gaza) of one of its "field commanders", Ibrahim al-Ghoul, and injuries to nine others as a result of a mishap during a training session on building bombs. The English-language Alqassam website termed the death an act of martyrdom that followed "a long bright path of jihad, hard work, struggle and sacrifice.” Gaza's Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, quoted by the Maan News Agency and via a spokesperson, said the injuries to the other bomb-making cadets were "serious".
  • February 10, 2014: No fewer than 22 Iraqi "militants" (the misleading name given in the UPI and New York Times reports to religiously-inspired persons engaging full-time in terrorism) from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria terror group, went to their heavenly virgins when a lesson on making car bombs and explosive belts went catastrophically wrong as a result of a "fumble". Associated Press said “a glitch set off one of the devices”.
  • February 10, 2014: In another part of Iraq, more or less on the same day, 25 other terrorists died in a truck-bomb explosion in Salahudin province. Xinhua, the Chinese newsagency, said they "were building the bomb when it exploded Sunday in a village near Samarra". Several more were injured. [UPI]
Not often we are privileged to see accidents as the cause for untold numbers of lives being saved.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Like many sites that advocate for a moderate, Israel-friendly viewpoint, we unfortunately receive abusive, offensive and racist messages on a routine basis. We want it to be clear that we reserve the right to reject them in our absolute discretion. Racist and Israel-hating sites abound on the web. So not being allowed to play in our sandbox can hardly be called a hardship. Anonymous postings or messages where email address of the poster is hidden from us will generally not be accepted.