BEIRUT, 27 May 2006 — The leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in southern Lebanon was killed along with his brother yesterday in a car bombing near his house in the southern town of Sidon. The militant group blamed Israeli intelligence for the killings and vowed to retaliate.
Mahmoud Majzoub (Abu Hamza), 41, died shortly after sustaining serious wounds during surgery. His brother Nidal, 32, died instantly in the blast which rocked the Al-Bustan neighborhood.
Islamic Jihad has refused to abide by a February 2005 truce — upheld by most other Palestinian groups including Hamas, claiming that violence is a legitimate response to an Israeli crackdown on its members.
It claimed responsibility for eight of the nine bombings against Israel in the past 20 months that have killed 34 people.
Hamas has refused to renounce the Tel Aviv attack in April — the most recent and the bloodiest.
“With God’s permission, the response will be sharp,” said Abu Imad Rifai, Islamic Jihad’s representative in Lebanon. He did not say when or where the group would respond. Majzoub, a member of the group’s policy-making Shoura Council and its leader in Sidon, 40 kilometers (24 miles) south of Beirut, was walking with his brother Nidal near the central square of this coastal city, when a parked car was detonated by remote control, security officials said.
Rifai blamed Israel’s Mossad intelligence service for the attack saying “it comes in the framework of Israeli escalation against the Palestinian people, particularly Islamic Jihad.”
A response to the attacks “is left for the brothers inside” the Palestinian territories, Rifai told The Associated Press. “They (the Israelis) must bear responsibility for the expansion of the conflict,” he added. “There will be a qualitative action to chop off the hands which extend to our Mujahedeen inside and outside” the Palestinian territories.
Yesterday’s explosion of a silver Mercedes parked at the roadside broke the windows of several nearby apartment buildings. Lebanese police and soldiers sealed off the area as dogs searched for additional bombs.
“I rushed to the balcony after hearing the blast only to see black smoke billowing from a car,” said Omran Kaddoura, a 16-year-old resident. After running down six flights of stairs to the street, he “found the two bloodied men lying on the ground in front of the car. Within minutes an ambulance picked them up.”
Mazjoub, his wife and infant son were wounded in an explosion in 1998 in Sidon when their booby-trapped car detonated. Islamic Jihad blamed Israel for the blast that also injured a passer-by.
He is survived by his wife, three sons and two daughters.
Rifai rejected the possibility that other Palestinian or Lebanese groups were behind the attack. “No one has an interest in assassinating him except the Israeli Mossad.”
In Israel, military officials said they had heard about yesterday’s incident through media reports, but have no additional information.
Palestinians have blamed the assassinations of several militant leaders on Israel.
The killing of Islamic Jihad chief Fathi Shekaki in Malta in 1995 has been widely attributed to Israel. Islamic Jihad is led by Ramadan Shallah, a Palestinian from Gaza who now lives in exile in Syria.
— With input from agencies
