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ISRAELI MOTHER AND DAUGHTER MURDERED IN TERRORIST ATTACK
Jerusalem----February 8........Miri Ohana, 40 and her daughter, Yael, 11, were among three Israelis killed when an Arab terrorist attacked Moshav Hamra in the Jordan Valley last night. Three others - a young girl and two soldiers - were lightly to moderately wounded. Police reported that the terrorist entered the moshav (farmhouse) near the community's hothouses at around 6 p.m. and shot at a guard before continuing to the northern entrance. There, he attempted to enter the Tsabari family's home, according to Jordan Valley Regional Council spokeswoman Orit Artziely. The family's calls for help alerted a reserve soldier, who arrived at the scene and was shot dead by the terrorist, Artziely said. The soldier who reacted quickly and bravely was St.-Sgt. Moshe Mejos Mekonan, 33, of Beit She'an. The terrorist, who was dressed in an IDF uniform, continued to the Ohana family's home and took them hostage. An elite team from the police anti-terrorist unit entered into the home, killing the terrorist in a gun battle during which Miri and Yael Ohana were mortally wounded. They were flown, together with two other victims, by helicopter to Hadassah-University Hospital in Jerusalem's Ein Kerem, where they died in surgery. The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a group connected to Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the settlement attack in a fax received by Reuters. Voice of Palestine radio also said the group claimed responsibility. The claims could not be independently verified. Upon infiltrating the moshav, the terrorist shot at guards who had reached the hothouse area to close the gates, in response to warnings about a possible terrorist attack. When the alarm was raised, Nahal soldiers deployed in the area entered the moshav and pursued the intruder, while ordering Hamra's 40 families to remain in their homes. As additional elite commando security forces were deployed to the site, soldiers set up roadblocks and sealed the area to traffic. For close to five hours security forces operated in the community searching for possible additional terrorists. Hanoch Benkel sat in his house as the gunshots sounded outside. "It is happening not far from my home," he said. "I rely on our security forces to do the job." At the time of the terrorist attack, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was on a flight to Washington to urge President Bush to sever ties with Yasser Arafat when the terrorist struck. Aides traveling with Sharon, who landed at Andrews Air Force base outside Washington shortly after 10 p.m. EST, blamed Arafat's Palestinian Authority and vowed there would be a swift response. "We hold the Palestinian Authority responsible," Sharon spokesman Arnon Perlman said during the flight. He added that the Israeli leader was not considering cutting the visit short because of what happened. "There will be an immediate response in the field," another Sharon spokesman, Raanan Gissin, told reporters on the plane. |
