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Terrorist Leader Says 400 El Fatah Men Were Trained in Red China

December 4, 1969
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The training in Red China of at least 400 El Fatah guerrillas was disclosed to a Nablus military court Tuesday by the former commander of the guerrilla base at Karameh, Jordan. The prisoner, Mouhammed Othmann El Haj Nimmer Abdallah, was sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor for his activities as an El Fatah unit commander on the West Bank.

He told the court that he underwent an extensive course in sabotage in Red China and that while he was there, at least 400 other El Fatah recruits were being trained in guerrilla warfare and toughened by long marches over difficult terrain. He said the recruits were taken by bus from Jordan to Baghdad, Iraq and then flown to Peking.

Nimmer Abdallah was captured with four other saboteurs near Nablus. They were in possession of large quantities of hand grenades and explosives and five Russian-made Kalachnik of rifles. They surrendered without resistance.

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