BICOM

Israel’s security agency, the Shin Bet, claim to have caught the man suspected of carrying out the bombing on a bus in central Tel Aviv on Wednesday. The attack injured 29 people, including one severely and one moderately. The bomber reportedly lived previously in the West Bank and was allowed to settle in the Arab-Israeli town of Tayibe under the family reunification law, whereby the spouse of an Israeli citizen can receive Israeli citizenship subject to certain conditions.  Reports allege that he was recruited by a terror cell linked to Hamas and Islamic Jihad from the West Bank village of Beit Liqya, near Ramallah.  He apparently used a car belonging to his Israeli-Arab employer, without the latter’s knowledge, to drive the explosives to Tel Aviv and plant them on the bus. The bomb was then detonated via mobile phone by the commander of the cell in Beit Liqya.

In a separate development, Operation Pillar of Defence claimed its sixth victim yesterday, with the death of a 28-year old reservist who suffered critical injuries from a mortar shell fired from Gaza, and subsequently died of his injuries.