GAZA CITY, 22 May 2006 — Security forces yesterday foiled an assassination attempt on Rasheed Abu Shbak, chief of Palestinian preventive security, a day after the head of the Palestinian general intelligence, Gen. Tareq Abu Rajab, was seriously injured in a bomb attack.
Security forces discovered a large bomb planted by the side of a road that links the house of Shbak with his office in Gaza city. The bomb weighing 70 kg was defused.
Hundreds of Fatah supporters and newly recruited members marched to the preventive security headquarters to show their solidarity with Abu Shbak and his apparatus. Officials from Fatah accused Hamas activists of planting the bomb. Abu Shbak has been a central figure in the power struggle since he was appointed by Abbas as head of three Palestinian security services.
A previously unknown group that links itself to Al-Qaeda yesterday claimed responsibility for the failed attempt to kill Rajab on Saturday.
In a statement posted on a website, the group said: “Your brothers in the Qaeda Organization of the State of Palestine were capable of reaching the workplace of... Abu Rajab. The Mujahedeen were able to plant a bomb in the elevator.”
The statement said Abu Rajab survived because the militants detonated the explosives before the elevator door had closed.
The group also vowed to target Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Mohammed Dahlan, a former security chief.
