Jerusalem, Mar 07: The Palestinian hardline Islamic group Hamas' top bomb-maker in the West Bank has been arrested, Israel's Shin Beth Internal Security Service said today.
Israel accuses Abdallah Jamal Barghuti, 31, of having prepared the bombs used in a string of attacks, which killed around 50 Israelis and wounded hundreds last year.
He was arrested Wednesday near the West Bank city of Ramallah after a year-long investigation, the Shin Beth said in a statement carried by the Israeli army.
A high-ranking security official told army radio that his capture was "the most important arrest in recent months."
Barghuti was born in Kuwait but settled in the West Bank since 1999.
He served as a military adviser to armed groups linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah before becoming an instructor and chief bomb-maker for Hamas' armed wing in the west bank.
Barghuti is accused of having manufactured the bombs, which ripped through the Sbarro restaurant, the Moment café and Hebrew University in Jerusalem as well as a Tel Aviv pool hall between August 2001 and July 2002.
Bureau Report
