(Communicated by Israeli security sources)
 
Mahmud Abed Al Hamdan Kamil, 25, from Kfar Kabatya, one of the heads of the Islamic Jihad in the Jenin region, was killed in a joint IDF and ISA operation last night in Kfar Raba near Jenin.

Mahmud Kamil recruited a suicide bomber at the end of 2002, who was consequently caught by Israeli security forces. Immediately after this, Kamil was arrested by the Palestinian security services and was put in a PA prison in Jericho, from where he continued to engage in terrorist activity.

After escaping from the PA prison several months ago, Kamil returned to the Jenin region and significantly increased his involvement in Islamic Jihad activity. Kamil is responsible for both executing and directing explosive device attacks and shooting attacks against Israeli security forces operating in the Kabatya region. Kamil recruited a vast number of operatives to the Islamic Jihad infrastructure in the Jenin region.

Kamil acted as a central channel for the transfer and distribution of funds and of information donated from abroad for the purpose of terrorist activity.