Suicide bombing attempt by former informant

Internal links

The paramedic who became another 'martyr' for Palestine

A Palestinian who collaborated with Israel's intelligence services and then changed his mind blew himself up yesterday in a failed attempt to kill the agents who ran him.

He killed himself and injured two officers from Israel's Shin Bet security service as he approached their van close to Israel's border with the West Bank. The attack – the third or fourth suicide mission by Palestinians inside Israel in just over a week – was claimed by Islamic Jihad, who said that more would follow. It was also claimed by an official from Fatah, the mainstream movement led by Yasser Arafat.

A statement from the office of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, which is responsible for Shin Bet, said the agents were on "an operational mission".

Palestinian sources said that the bomber, named as Murad Abu Asal, 23, had been an informant for the past three months but had turned on the agents. Reports said that bomber and the agents had arranged to meet on the outskirts of the town of Taibe, about 100 yards from a checkpoint that separates Israel from the Palestinian West Bank town of Tulkarm – believed to be a regular meeting place for informants and security officials. It is the second known case of an informant attacking his contacts.

Palestinians say the network of informants in the occupied territories is responsible for the way Israel singles out suspected activists for assassination. Collaborators are frequently hunted down and killed by other Palestinians.

At Mr Asal's home in the West Bank village of Anabta, his family denied any knowledge of his collaboration. "We are very surprised, we knew he had some problems, psychologically, but we never thought it would be anything like this," said the dead man's brother Abdel Fateh, 34.