The Palestinian Political Process
Charles Johnson
Sun May 21, 2006 at 7:49 am PDT • Views: 194
Palestinians Foil 2nd Assassination Effort.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Palestinian security foiled the second attempt in two days to kill top commanders loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas in what officials in his Fatah party said Sunday was a “clear conspiracy” against their leaders.
Fatah officials stopped short of openly accusing the rival Hamas militant group, which controls the Palestinian government. But the latest bout of Palestinian infighting, mainly over control of the security forces, has raised fears of civil war.
Gaza security chief Rashid Abu Shbak, a central figure in the power struggle, was the target of an attempted bombing Sunday, security officials said.
Security forces found and destroyed a 154-pound roadside bomb along a route used by Shbak’s motorcade. The road is inspected each morning before Shbak heads to work.
The discovery came a day after Abbas’ intelligence chief, Tareq Abu Rajab, was seriously wounded and one of his bodyguards was killed when a bomb loaded with metal pellets ripped through an elevator shaft in his Gaza headquarters.
The attack on Abu Rajab (now being treated for his injuries in an Israeli hospital) has been claimed by ‘Al-Qaeda in Palestine.’
PARIS (AFP) - A group calling itself Al-Qaeda in Palestine said it carried out a bombing against the Palestinian intelligence chief and threatened more attacks in a statement posted on the Internet.
“We declare our full responsibility for this operation,” the group said in the statement, whose authenticity could not be independently verified.
“Your mujahedeen brothers managed to place a bomb in the special lift used by the apostate Tareq Abu Rajab … but were hasty in detonating the device which should have been triggered once the lift door was closed.”
Abu Rajab, overall head of the Palestinian intelligence services, was seriously wounded and his bodyguard killed in Saturday’s blast in a lift at the services’ Gaza headquarters.
Frank says: