IAF kills 2 Islamic Jihad men in Jenin

IDF says air strike was necessary to avoid large risk of sending ground troops.

By YAAKOV KATZ, JPOST STAFF, AP
IAF copter cool 298.88 (photo credit: IDF [file])
IAF copter cool 298.88
(photo credit: IDF [file])
For the first time in at least three years, the air force attacked targets in the West Bank town of Jenin on Wednesday morning. A helicopter fired missiles at a building where Islamic Jihad fugitives were hiding, killing two people.
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The IDF said that the targets were senior members of the terrorist group, and that they were planning attacks against Israel. Witnesses said they saw two bodies being removed from the building. Security officials identified the two as Osama Attili, 24, from A-til (near Tulkarm) and Mohammed Atik, 26, from Burkin (near Jenin). Atili was reportedly part of the terror cell headed by Louie Sa'adi. Palestinians reported that the West Bank leader of the Islamic Jihad, Hussam Jaradat, escaped the strike unharmed. Jaradat's deputy, Walid Ubeidi abu al-Kassam, was moderately wounded in the strike. The army said the decision to attack the building from the air was made as a result of the difficulty that ground troops would have had if they were sent in to arrest the wanted men. In the past two weeks, security forces prevented eight suicide attacks.