AFP: "Moghniyeh Group" Claims Responsibility for Killing 2 Israeli Policemen

AFP: "Moghniyeh Group" Claims Responsibility for Killing 2 Israeli Policemen
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15/03/2009 Two Israeli occupation policemen were shot dead in an attack on Sunday near an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. "Two policemen who were travelling in the Jordan Valley were shot dead. According to the initial investigation it is an attack," Rosenfeld told AFP. He said the attack took place near the Israeli settlement of Massua in the northern Jordan Valley, just southeast of Nablus and near the major West Bank settlement of Ariel.
An anonymous caller claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of the "Imad Moghniyeh Group" in a telephone call to AFP. The resistance group is named after Hezbollah military commander Imad Moghniyeh (Hajj Redwan) who was assassinated in a car bomb attack in Damascus in February 2008 that was blamed on Israel.

Israeli occupation Police and the army sent reinforcements to the area where the attack took place and occupation troops had launched search operations in a bid to track down the assailants, Rosenfeld said. The website of Israeli daily Haaretz reported that one of the policemen was killed on the spot and that the other died of his wounds shortly after the arrival of emergency services. Their car was found on Highway 90 which skirts the border with Jordan to the east.
According to Israeli police, the driver of the car lost control of the vehicle after he was hit by gunfire. The Jordan Valley shares a 70-kilometre (43-mile) border with Jordan and represents a third of the West Bank which has been occupied by Israel since 1967. It is home to 30 Israeli settlements where a total of 7,000 settlers live. Israel has banned Palestinians from using Highway 90 since the start of the second intifada in September 2000.

Two occupation police officers were wounded in occupied Jerusalem 10 days ago when an Arab bulldozer driver overturned their vehicle and rammed it into a bus, before being shot by police and a taxi driver. The Palestinian later died of his wounds.

Last Wednesday, Israeli occupation soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian youth and wounded another after firebombs were thrown at their vehicle in the occupied West Bank. In January, a settler of the West Bank settlement of Kochav Hashahar was seriously wounded when a resistance fighter opened fire on his car on the highway near the settlement.

Israel has transferred some security control to Palestinian security forces in occupied West Bank towns but controls much of the traffic that travels through the areas at checkpoints in territory.