(Ha'aretz) Arnon Regular - A leading Islamic Jihad operative, Aziz Mahmoud al-Shami, was killed Saturday in the Gaza Strip when a missile fired from an Israeli air force helicopter struck the car in which he was traveling. Shami belonged to Islamic Jihad's military wing and was involved in terror attacks for years, including the Beit Lid bombing attack in January 1995 in which 22 Israelis were killed. In October 2003, Shami was directly involved in a terror strike on Netzarim in which three IDF soldiers were killed, and he was planning another strike against Netzarim when he was killed. Israel government spokesman Avi Pazner said, "It is important for us to try to prevent terrorism before it occurs, and we thought we would save many human lives by eliminating him."
2004-02-09 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive