AroundTheWorld

Supposedly, the 14- or 16-year old boy suffers from Down Syndrome. They offered him about 20 dollars to act as a suicide bomber.



Israelis Stop Teen Wearing Bomb Vest

By ALI DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer

NABLUS, West Bank - A Palestinian teenager approached a crowded West Bank checkpoint wearing a suicide bomb vest Wednesday in what Israel said was a failed attempt to kill soldiers there.


AP Photo


AP Photo
Slideshow: Mideast Conflict

Israelis Stop Teen Wearing Bomb Vest
(AP Video)



In a tense scene captured in exclusive Associated Press Television News footage, soldiers jumped behind concrete barricades and sent a yellow robot to hand scissors to the 16-year-old boy so he could cut off the vest. They then ordered him to strip to his underwear.


Experts later detonated the bomb, and there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident.


The teenager's family in Nablus identified him as Hussam Abdo, and his brother, Hosni, said "he has the intelligence of a 12-year-old."


Although neighbors identified Abdo as a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine militant group, his family said he did not belong to any militant group, but went to demonstrations held by all of them.


The incident was the latest in a series of what Israel says are foiled militant attacks involving young Palestinians.


"No matter how many times Israel learns of the use of children for suicide bombings, it is shocking on each occasion," said Dore Gold, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites). "Israelis do not understand how Palestinians are willing to sacrifice their own children in order to kill ours."


Since the Israeli assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin on Monday, the country has been on high alert, fearing retaliation.


Soldiers at the Hawara checkpoint outside Nablus said they got intelligence that there was an imminent attack planned there, shut down the crossing and began searching people.


Abdo, wearing an oversized red jersey, approached them in a suspicious way, said Lt. Tamir Milrad, an officer at the checkpoint.


"We saw that he had something under his shirt," he said. The soldiers dove behind concrete barricades, pointed their guns at him and told him to stop.


They ordered him to take off his jersey, revealing a bulky gray bomb vest underneath.


"He told us he didn't want to die. He didn't want to blow up," he said.


The soldiers then sent the robot to hand scissors to the boy so he could cut off the vest.


He cut off part of it and struggled with the rest. "I don't how to get this off," he said.


After he dropped the vest, soldiers ordered him to take off his undershirt and jeans, to ensure he had no other weapons on him.


The military said Abdo had been sent to kill soldiers at the crowded checkpoint.





"In addition to the fact that he would have harmed my soldiers, he would have harmed also the Palestinians waiting at the checkpoint and there were 200-300 innocent Palestinians there," according to the commander of the checkpoint, identified only as Lt. Col. Guy.

Several teenagers have carried out suicide bombings in the past 3 1/2 years of violence and there has been recent concern that militant groups were turning to young attackers to try to frustrate Israeli security checks.

On March 16, Israeli troops stopped an 11-year-old boy allegedly trying to smuggle explosives through the Hawara checkpoint. Israel said militants had given the boy the explosives without his knowledge. Palestinians and the boy disputed this, claiming the bag he was carrying — swiftly blown up by army sappers — contained auto parts.

Last month, Israeli police arrested three boys, aged 12, 13 and 15, who said they were on their way to carry out a shooting attack in the Israeli city of Afula.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...young_bomber_11

Advertisement

MadMax

GreenVegan76

That's sick.

adeelsiddiqui

Pathetic...

Sick indeed

AroundTheWorld

I have been thinking about the killing of Yassin back and forth, especially because he was in a wheelchair and all this, but I have come to this conclusion:

Can you really blame Israel for wanting to take out the fanatic, hateful guys who hide behind people they send out as human bombs, even kids? The suicide bombers are just weapons, they are obviously misguided. Those who are behind the suicide bombers, those who stir the hate, you cannot talk to them, you cannot negotiate with them. What do you do? You try to take them out, because there is nothing else you can do.

It really is as the writer of the article someone posted in another thread said:

"That's our choice today: War, dishonor or surrender to Islamo-tyranny."

And this problem is spreading, it is not a problem restricted to Israel/Palestina - it is becoming a worldwide problem.

AroundTheWorld

"Blowing myself up is the only chance I've got to have sex with 72 virgins in the Garden of Eden," a 14-and-a-half-year-old Palestinian boy told his Israeli investigators after being caught wearing an 8kg explosives belt.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satell...d=1080108195675

B-Bob

That's pretty tough to argue with. It's not like we can offer every 14-yr-old sex with 72 virgins here on Earth.

Jackie, that's a nice post, about the problem being more widespread. What to do? I keep praying for a fleet of simultaneous Ghandis popping up in many factions the world over. And yeah, it's hard to blame Israel for taking out Yassin. I just wish they could do each of these things with zero innocent death. I know that's difficult, but when you keep tossing in healthy side portions of colateral damage, you give the deep impression that you view a certain people as subhuman. ("you" means universal you, of course).

AroundTheWorld

I agree with you, but I'm afraid that both the Gandhi wish and trying to take out the cowards who use people as human bombs to kill even more people without taking the risk of killing some others is wishful thinking only.

I am by no means a Sharon fan (on the contrary), but I cannot blame his government for wanting to take these guys out, even if one or two people standing next to the guy (by the way, what are the chances that people around them do not stand for the same crimes) will also be killed.

It's a very tough question.

However, it appears that the terrorist leaders in Palestina are now regrouping. They have made a lot of big threats, but have not been able to follow up with actions, kind of like a frightened dog that barks and barks. Perhaps that is a sign that targeting the cowardly leaders behind the suicide attacks and taking these gangsters out is the only way to go.

Buck Turgidson

Why certainly I'd like to have that fellow who hits a home run every time at bat, who strikes out every opposing batter when he's pitching, who throws strikes to any base or the plate when he's playing outfield and who's always thinking about two innings ahead just what he'll do to baffle the other team. Any manager would want a guy like that playing for him. The only trouble is to get him to put down his cup of beer and come down out of the stands and do those things.

rrj_gamz

That is some sick crap...I'm practically speachless...

MadMax

teaching kids to hate...wow, that's something.

mleahy999

Some People should not be allowed to have children.

Tyree

this just makes me sick....and israel is blamed for going after the terrorists. I cant imagine being a soldier and having to fear children with bombs and guns, it makes me sick

Jeff

Liberia...



Sierra Leone...



America...

edit...fortunately, this pic of a KKK family eating with their child is unavailable because the site it is on exceeded its bandwidth. Suffice it to say, we ain't immune.

Sadly, the list goes on and on...

Supermac34

What's up with the tie? Is that the style in Liberia?

MadMax

i know, jeff...it's worldwide. it's awful.

olliez

MadMax

To arm a child is one thing, to use child as suicide bomber is the lowest of lows

FranchiseBlade

That's really sick, and disgusting. Then the litany of using children in combat situations and warping their minds with hate, is so abhorent to me that I can't express my feelings much at all. It's just rotten.

Woofer

In some places, the guerilla fighters wear women's clothing to *give them more power".


No matter what the reasons, the circumstances of the folks in the ghettos of the Palestinian territories are pretty grim. If one has little hope for a better future, I could see how a small percentage of people could be tempted by the siren's call of eternal bliss in the afterlife. The fact that the bible and Koran contain plenty of killing in the name of god blurs matters considerably. I see plenty of folks call it sick when a parent kills a child, but gloss over god asking Abraham to kill Isaac.