Terrorist behind Jerusalem bombings was alumni of Israeli college, worked at Israeli factory

Eslam Froukh, the ISIS-aligned terrorist who planted two bombs at Jerusalem bus stops last month, killing two, was a graduate of an Israeli engineering school and was employed at a factory outside of Ma’ale Adumim.

By World Israel News Staff

Eslam Froukh, the 26-year-old eastern Jerusalem Arab terrorist responsible for a pair of bombing attacks in the capital last month, is a graduate of an Israeli college and, until the time of his arrest, was employed at an Israeli factory near Ma’aleiAdumim, just east of the capital.

Froukh, a resident of Kafr Aqab – an Arab village on the northern edge of Jerusalem – was arrested on November 29, six days after he placed three bombs at two bus stops in Jerusalem.

One massive bomb hidden at a bus stop and set to detonate once security forces arrived at the scene of the bombing failed to detonate due to a technical malfunction.

The first bomb, set off at a bus stop in the Givat Shaul neighborhood, killed a 17-year-old dual Israeli-Canadian citizen and a 50-year-old father of six who had immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia. Roughly a dozen people were also injured in the explosion, while six more were injured after a second bomb exploded in the Ramot neighborhood.

According to his social media accounts, Froukh was an alumnus of the Azrieli College of Engineering in Jerusalem.

On Tuesday afternoon, the college confirmed that Froukh was a graduate of the school, but distanced itself from Froukh and condemned last month’s attack.

“Unfortunately, one of the suspects is an alumnus of the college, who completed his studies in the mechanical engineering department a few years ago. The college strongly condemns and rejects any action or verbal violence, or behavior that is against the law, and supports security forces for their quick detection of those responsible for the attack.”

In a statement released Tuesday morning, the Shin Bet internal security agency said it had identified Froukh by fingerprints he had left behind, which were found on the remnants of the explosive devices.

At the time of his arrest, Froukh – a self-declared ISIS supporter – had prepared an additional explosive device, a Carlo-style submachine gun, and materials for assembling more bombs. Shin Bet officials say Froukh was planning another terrorist attack.