Name: Mahmoud Shehada
Group: Islamic Jihad
Position: Commander - Bethlehem
Method: Shot Dead
Date Dispatched: March 12 2008
SourceQUOTE (Jerusalem Post)
Among the dead was Mahmoud Shehada, 45, the commander of Islamic Jihad in Bethlehem. He had been on Israel's wanted list for eight years, since the eruption of the second intifada, for involvement in a number of deadly terror attacks. Another of the dead was Ahmad Balbul, 48, reported to have been a member of both Fatah's Aksa Martyrs Brigades and the Bethlehem City Council.
The Shin Bet said Shehada had maintained direct contacts with Islamic Jihad headquarters in Syria and regularly received instructions from Damascus regarding attacks. His home was demolished by the IDF following last Thursday's terrorist attack at the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem - in which eight students were killed - leading to speculation, dismissed by the Shin Bet on Wednesday, that he was involved in planning the attack.
The IDF said Shehada was responsible for a series of car bombings and suicide attacks in Jerusalem early this decade. In November 2000, he sent the car bomb that exploded near Jerusalem's Mahaneh Yehuda market, killing two people, including Ayelet Hashahar Levy, 28, the daughter of then-National Religious Party chairman Yitzhak Levy, and 33-year-old Jerusalem lawyer Hanan Levy (no relation), and wounded 10 people.
"They finally did what they should have done a long time ago." Levy said last night. "He killed a lot of people, not just my daughter. It bothered me to know that a murderer was still walking the streets and murdering people.
It's not a matter of revenge. It's a matter of restoring Israel's deterrence and sending a message that if people kill Jews, they will pay a price."
In March 2001, Shehada dispatched a car bomb to the capital's Talpiyot neighborhood that wounded five people. Later that year he sent two suicide bombers who blew up in separate incidents and wounded close to 50 people.
According to the sources, Shehada had escaped several previous attempts by security forces to kill him.
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