Posted on 07/27/16
| News Source: YNET
Israeli security forces capture three accomplices who helped Mohammed Fakih carry out the shooting attack in southern Mount Hebron that claimed Mark's life and left his wife and two of his children wounded.
The terrorist who murdered Rabbi Michael "Miki" Mark in a drive-by shooting earlier this month was killed in an IDF raid in the Hebron area overnight Tuesday, it was cleared for publication early Wednesday morning.
Mohammed Jabarah al-Fakih, a 29-year-old Hamas operative from Dura, barricaded himself in a house in the village of Surif in the Hebron area, ignoring calls by forces from the IDF's elite Duvdevan unit and Israel Police's counterterrorism unit Yamam to surrender.
After a firefight, the IDF troops fired and anti-tank missile and several other projectiles at the house, which caused a significant part of the structure to collapse. Forces then used a bulldozer that started demolishing the structure while the terrorist and others were hiding inside. In the pre-dawn hours, forces looking through the demolished house found the terrorist's body.
The forces also seized weapons that were in Fakih's possession, including a Kalashnikov rifle and a homemade grenade.
Troops from the Kfir Brigade's Haruv Battalion, who were providing backup to the raid, encountered violent rioting by other residents of the village, which they quelled using crowd dispersal measures. According to the Palestinians, the power to the village was cut during the night and gunfire and explosions were heard. None of the Israeli troops, who left the village around 6am, were hurt in the raid. According to the IDF, one Palestinian woman was lightly wounded. Fakih’s family blame the Palestinian security forces who they say gave him up to the Israelis. Fakih was imprisoned in the past for planning terror attacks along with others while he was a member of the terror organization Islamic Jihad. While in prison, he joined the ranks of Hamas's military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. After the attack, the IDF sent hundreds of troops to the area to search for the perpetrators in what was the largest operation in the territory in two years. Three other terrorists also involved in the attack that claimed Mark's life have also been arrested recently, along with several of their family members.