The police announced Sunday that a large terrorist cell directed from Jordan by Al Fatah, the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization, was recently uncovered operating in Jerusalem.
Its members are in custody. They are suspected of planting six explosive devices in different parts of the city between June 1990 and April 1991, and are believed responsible for various other attacks in Jerusalem.
The announcement seems to have been timed to coincide with Jerusalem Day, marking the liberation of the eastern part of the city in the 1967 war, which was celebrated Sunday.
The cell was headed by the 40-year-old owner of a grocery store in Za’im village, near Jerusalem, where he also served as imam, an Islamic religious leader.
According to police, the members, residents of East Jerusalem, were recruited, trained and financed by Fatah activists based in Jordan, who gave them orders.
The police said a pistol and an assortment of items used to prepare explosive devices were confiscated.
The acts for which the cell is being credited include the placement of explosive charges on the road to French Hill in June and November 1990; the explosion of a bomb on the path to the Ophel garden in September 1990, in which a policeman was lightly injured; the placement of an explosive charge at the Ma’aleh Adumim junction, which was discovered and neutralized; and the detonation of an explosive charge last month at the Damascus Gate, which caused no damage.
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