A Hamas commander in the Gaza Strip who helped his married lover wipe out the stain on her family's honour caused by their affair by sending her on a suicide mission has himself been killed in a mysterious explosion. Palestinians say the blast was caused by an elaborate Israeli booby trap.
| Maybe it was the Zionist death ray again? |
The story was reported yesterday by Israel Radio's Arab affairs correspondent based on his Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip. The woman, Reem Raiyshi, 22, detonated an explosive belt last month at a crossing point into Israel, killing herself and three Israeli soldiers in the first suicide attack by a woman ever authorised by Hamas. It was reported at the time that the attack was an act of redemption by Raiyshi, a mother of two, for having betrayed her husband. According to yesterday's Israel Radio report, Raiyshi had been intimate with the Hamas military commander in the central sector of the Gaza Strip, Abed A-Nasser Abu-Shuka. The two had met after Raiyshi, gripped by religious fundamentalism, began visiting mosques frequently and joined Hamas.
| Then she met Shuka. Their eyes met across the mosque. The first time she saw him, she knew she must have him. As if by accident, she lifted her veil. His pants fell down. Her pants fell down. And then they were one. Briefly... |
When the illicit romance was discovered, Abu-Shuka and the betrayed husband agreed that Raiyshi would have to pay the ultimate price for having betrayed her family's honour. She accepted her fate and it was Abu-Shuka, her lover, who provided her with the belt of explosives she would wear under her clothing and explained to her how she would carry out her mission.
"One more before you go for the last time, baby?"
"Didja ever make it with a babe wearing a dynamite girdle, Abed?" |
Last week, there was an explosion in Abu-Shuka's house which took his life. Palestinians initially reported that it had been caused by a rocket from an Israeli helicopter but it soon became apparent that the explosion had been inside the house. Israeli spokesmen denied any involvement, saying that the explosion had apparently been caused by a 'work accident' as Abu-Shuka prepared a bomb. After a Hamas investigation, Palestinian sources said the explosion was caused by a booby trap in the form of a three-dimensional model of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque. It had been given to Abu-Shuka last week by an Israeli Arab who was believed to be collaborating with Hamas. The collaborator had brought the Hamas operative Israeli army uniforms for use in a future operation. The Palestinian sources say that explosives inside the model had been detonated by remote control, apparently on a signal sent from an unmanned reconnaisance aircraft overhead.
| Oooh! That's pretty neat! Kinda like the Trojan horse, only smaller. And with dynamite. |
More than a decade ago, Israeli agents assassinated Hamas' top bombmaker in similar fashion. They arranged for a booby-trapped cell phone to be delivered to him and then detonated it when he answered their ring.
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