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Terror cell nabbed in Jenin, ‘imminent’ attack thwarted

Five Palestinians who plotted to carry out terror attack arrested; IDF troops come under heavy gunfire, locals hurl explosives.

By World Israel News Staff

Five members of a Palestinian terror cell were captured by Israeli security forces after an intense firefight in Jenin on Tuesday morning, after intelligence indicated that the men were planning an “imminent” terror attack.

The five men were part of a “terror cell that planned to carry out an attack in an immediate time frame,” the Israeli army said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear if the cell was affiliated with a specific terror group.

In a collaborative operation involving IDF troops from the Sayeret Duvdevan unit, Border Police officers, and the Shin Bet, security forces arrested the men and seized weapons and ammunition.

While the troops were operating in the Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Jenin, they came under gunfire and locals hurled improvised explosive devices, including petrol bombs, at the soldiers.

The Islamic Jihad terror group’s branch in Jenin claimed it had activated its operatives to shoot at and throw explosives at the troops.

Palestinian media identified one of the captured men as Ahmed Turkman. His father was one of the perpetrators of a September 2022 shooting attack on a military bus carrying soldiers near Jenin, in which several troops were shot and seriously wounded.

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The other four men arrested in the raid were named as Nour and Abd Abu Saqr, Abdullah Ahmad al-Batal, and Ahmed al-Suqi.

As part of Operation Breaking the Wave, the ongoing anti-terror campaign launched in March 2022, troops arrested two other men in overnight raids.

In recent years, Jenin has emerged as a major hotbed for terror, with numerous terror groups essentially operating freely throughout the city with little intervention from the Palestinian Authority.

In March 2023, the terrorist who murdered brothers Yagel and Halel Yaniv at the Huwara junction was killed during clashes with IDF troops in Jenin.