The remand for two terrorists who planned to set off a bomb at Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station and shoot up a bus has been extended, police said. The suspects, Iyad Khalid Abu Sara and Rubin Abu-Nagma, will be indicted Tuesday for their roles in the planned terror attack, as well as for planning and participating in other attacks, police said.
The terrorists were part of a Global Jihad terror cell in eastern Jerusalem that was directed from Gaza and which was planning to carry out a murderous attack on a civilian bus, police said. Three suspects have been arrested so far, but police are still searching for others said to be involved in the plot. All the terrorists are are believed to have been recruited online as part of an Al Qaeda plot ordered by the jihadi network’s central leadership, led by Ayman al-Zawahiri.
According to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), one of the plans was to carry out a suicide attack on a bus traveling from Jerusalem to Maaleh Adumim. That attack would have involved firing at the bus’s tires first, in order to cause it to overturn. Then the terrorist was to murder the bus’s occupants at close range and await rescue forces, whom he would also fire at.
At a hearing Sunday, Abu Sara’s lawyer requested that no photos be taken of the suspects in court. That request was rejected by the judge, Dina Cohen. The attorney then complained that his client had been “beaten” by police and soldiers during his arrest. The court ordered police to investigate the claims, but the indictments will be handed down on time, she said.