Israeli combat engineering squad destroys explosive devices hidden in mosque, which were ready to be used in terror attacks.
By World Israel News Staff
Israeli soldiers operating in a Palestinian Authority-controlled town in Judea and Samaria discovered a sophisticated bomb-making laboratory, which included several devices that were ready for use, inside of a local mosque.
The Israeli military has stepped up its counter-terror raids in PA-administered areas, after a suicide bomber from the region was able to reach Tel Aviv and almost succeeded in causing a deadly blast, which likely would have killed and maimed dozens of civilians.
“During operations to thwart terrorism in the Far’a camp in the Jordan Valley, an operations room and a laboratory for manufacturing explosive devices were found hidden inside the Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Mosque, which the terrorists were using to carry out terrorist acts against the IDF forces,” IDF Arabic language Spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on social media platform X on Thursday morning.
“The use of these dangerous devices, or even moving them, posed a threat to the soldiers and to the residents living near the mosque, so the [IDF’s combat] engineering forces destroyed the devices on the spot in a way that did not harm the prayer hall or any other part of the holy place.
“As a result of destroying the devices, a fire broke out, and the fire brigades worked to extinguish” the blaze, Adraee added.
In recent weeks, terrorists based in Judea and Samaria have increased their use of explosives in their attacks on IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians.
In July, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group claimed responsibility for a roadside bombing that killed an Israeli soldier and seriously wounded another.
Sgt. First Class (res.) Yehuda Geto, 22, was carrying out a counter-terror raid at the Nur Shams camp, on the outskirts of the terror hotbed of Jenin, when his vehicle drove over a hidden IED (Improvised Explosive Device.)
A month earlier, in June, Capt. Alon Sagciu, 22, was killed and 16 troops were wounded by a roadside bomb in Jenin, which was planted by Islamic Jihad.
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