11-year-old boy used as human bomb

by Margot Dudkevitch
Jerusalem Post
March 16, 2004

Fatah Tanzim activists in Nablus attempted to use an 11-year-old 
boy to smuggle a bomb through an IDF roadblock on Monday, and 
tried to detonate the bomb when soldiers stopped him. 

Earlier in the day, Shin Bet agents had alerted troops in the 
area of plans by a bomber to leave Nablus. 

The men gave the boy a bag containing a seven-to-10 kilogram bomb 
stuffed with bolts. They promised him a large sum of money if he 
would carry it through the roadblock and hand it to a woman 
waiting on the other side. 

"A military policewoman lifted the bag, which was heavy, and 
placed it on the table. The soldier noticed the boy was uneasy 
and, when she questioned him, he told her the bag didn't belong 
to him and he had been asked to take it through," Lt.-Col. Guy, 
a Paratroop Brigade battalion commander, told The Jerusalem Post. 

"She immediately alerted officers, and with the other soldiers, 
distanced everyone from the area. "When the boy's dispatchers 
saw he was being detained, they dialed the cellphone inside 
the bag meant to detonate the bomb in an attempt, but it failed 
to go off," he said. 

The boy was detained for questioning, and sappers were called 
in to dispose of the bomb. 

Guy said the boy will be freed after questioning. "We're not 
going to do anything with a boy like that, an innocent kid 
trying to earn his daily bread. Someone apparently promised him 
money for getting the bomb across." 

Guy said it is common for terrorist groups to use children or 
women as couriers for arms and explosives. 

"We have caught a 39-year-old mother of seven... with an 
explosive belt under her clothes," he said, adding that the 
woman was on her way into Israel from the West Bank when she 
was caught. Since the outbreak of violence, terrorists have 
dispatched 29 suicide bombers younger than 18, officials said. 

Since 2001, more than 40 other minors who were involved in 
planning suicide bombings have been arrested by security forces. 
Since May 2001, 22 shootings and bombings were perpetrated by 
minors. Elsewhere in the West Bank, soldiers shot a Palestinian 
who threw a fire bomb at troops near Zabade, south of Jenin. 
Shots were also fired at soldiers in Nablus. 

Security forces arrested four fugitives in Zawata, north of 
Nablus, and another south of Bethlehem.
In the Gaza Strip, an anti-tank rocket was fired at a crowded 
bus as it left Netzarim. Passengers said the rocket entered one 
side and exited the other side. No one was wounded. An anti-tank 
rocket was also fired at an IDF post near Neveh Dekalim. 

Shots were fired at a convoy entering Netzarim, at an IDF post 
on the Karni-Netzarim road, and at workers building the security 
fence near Moshav Katif. 

Security forces arrested a fugitive in his home on the outskirts 
of Rafah. Palestinians claimed that, during the arrest, soldiers 
shot dead the man's brother.