(Communicated by the IDF Spokesman)

During a joint operation Monday night (3 July) the IDF and the Israel Security Agency arrested three of the murderers of Eliyahu Asheri. The forces closed in on a Palestinian police building in Ramallah where the three men - members of the Tanzim terror group, which works alongside Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees - were hiding. After several hours during which Israeli forces surrounded the building and called for them to come out, the murderers surrendered.

The three men arrested were: Bassam Shapik Atiya Akatya, born 1972, from the Omri refugee camp; Hamza Salah Ahmed Tiktuk, born 1984, from Ramallah; and Ayam Fuab Naaf Kamamjo, born 1986, from Ramallah.

Beyond the kidnapping and murder of Asheri, the three were involved in widespread terrorist activities including, among others, the planning of a foiled suicide attack in March 2006, and the smuggling of arms between the Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria. They were taken for questioning by security forces.

Intelligence operations had earlier revealed that Asheri had been kidnapped by a cell of Tanzim, which is connected to the Popular Resistance Committees in the Ramallah area, acting under the instruction of the Popular Resistance Committees in the Gaza Strip.

During an operation by security forces last Wednesday, June 28, two Palestinian terrorists connected to circumstances surrounding the boy's disappearance were arrested in Ramallah.  Under questioning one of those arrested told of Asheri's kidnapping and murder, and a number of details concerning the location of his body, which was located by IDF forces.