(Communicated by Israeli Security Sources)

In a joint IDF and ISA operation this morning, October 18, 2006, Fuad Sufan, a prominent wanted terrorist in Nablus was arrested.

Sufan, 25, resident of Nablus and a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, has been planning attacks against Israel in the past few months, including a suicide attack inside Israel. The suicide attack was thwarted after the members of the cell, who were involved in planning and carrying out the attack, were arrested by Israeli security forces.

Sufan, who operated in the old city of Nablus, is considered a senior terrorist in Nablus and was heavily involved in purchasing and manufacturing chemicals used to produce explosives, and in supplying explosive devices to terror cells in the area of Nablus. Sufan also directed and guided attacks against IDF forces operating in the city of Nablus.

Two of Sufan's assistants were arrested with him:

Aihab Mahmad Husein Karkash, 22, resident of the village of Teluza, north of Nablus.

Ahssan Ali Husein Owa, 25, resident of the city of Nablus. Owa is a wanted Tanzim operative, involved in the planning of terror attacks. A handgun was uncovered in his posession.

Sufan's arrest, along with his assistants, thwarts a number of terror attacks the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades organization infrastructure in Nablus was planning to carry out in the next few weeks against Israeli civilians and military targets.