Israeli security forces described how they foiled a plan to bomb the Jerusalem office of Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, after a Palestinian resident of the city was arrested. The Shin Bet security services and police uncovered the plan a month ago following the arrest of Hussam Nabulsi, 38, who had access to ministries as a driver for a printing company. A media gag on the story was lifted yesterday. Nabulsi, a resident of Jerusalem’s Old City, who holds an Israeli identification card, was apparently recruited by a cousin to help the Islamic militant group Hamas.
Details of the planned attack on Mr Sharon’s office emerged while he was being interrogated about his possible links to an intended attack on a synagogue in an ultra-orthodox neighbourhood of Jerusalem. Nabulsi told his questioners that he planned to plant a bomb in printed material designated for Mr Sharon’s office and detonate it using a mobile phone from about 200 yards away. He led the security services to two vegetable traders in north Jerusalem who had brought the device into Jerusalem hidden in their produce. The traders showed investigators where the 30lb bomb, connected to a detonator and a mobile phone, was hidden. The plan to bomb the synagogue was foiled after the security services received an intelligence warning that a Hamas cell from Nablus was planning to carry out an attack in the capital. |