Tel-Chai Nation

In the news on the war on terrorism in Israel today, Israel National News has a report on three members of the Islamic Jihad cell who were killed when trying to escape from security forces:

Three Islamic Jihad terrorists responsible for the slaughter at Tel Aviv's Stage Club on February 25th were killed trying to avoid arrest by Israeli troops just before dawn Friday morning.

The three were killed during a joint IDF, Israeli Police and Shabak (General Security Services) operation near Baka al-Gharbia (10 miles from the Mediterranean coast between Tel Aviv and Haifa), aimed at arresting them. They were found in Ilaar, southeast of the city, holed up in a building. Security forces surrounded the building and called on them to give themselves up. At a certain point, two of the terrorists burst out of the house, shooting at troops and trying to escape. They were shot and killed. The third terrorist succeeded in escaping toward the neighboring village of Tzaida, but was shot as he fled.

No member of Israeli security forces was injured during the operation.

One of the terrorists was identified as Ra'ed J'ajaj. He has been wanted since 2003 and has recently become the Islamic Jihad boss in the village of Tzaida. The other two terrorists were Jamil Abu Sa'ada, 25 and Sa'id al-Ashkar, 23, who is close with Islamic Jihad's leadership.

The three were all armed and wearing bullet-proof vests. AK- 47 assault rifles were found on J'ajaj and Abu Sa'ada, and an M-16 rifle and pistol were found on al-Ashkar.

The terror cell the three belonged to and coordinated was responsible for the Stage Club bombing in February 2005, which killed five and wounded 55; the bombing of the Sharon Mall in Netanya, which killed five and wounded 88; and a car bomb attack in Shavei Shomron, which failed to cause any injuries. A statement from the IDF says the three planned on carrying out additional attacks in the coming days.

And here's a brief news clip on three residents of PLO controlled areas who had posession of bullets:

(IsraelNN.com) Soldiers manning the Beka’ot inspection checkpoint in the Jordan Valley found a total of 1,500 bullets in the possession of three Palestinian Authority (PA) residents. The suspects were taken into custody for questioning.

And here's one more brief on how the authorities are planning for violence that could follow Islamic prayer services on the Temple Mount:

(IsraelNN.com) Police are on alert status this Friday afternoon suspecting there may be Islamic violence following afternoon prayer services.

Officials report that the outage expressed this week by leaders of Israel’s Arab community may manifest itself in the form of violence following weekly prayer services on the Temple Mount.

But lest anyone think that this means that now, security forces are starting to take a more convincing approach to fighting terrorism in these parts...I wouldn't get my hopes up too much.