The three Arabs who were thus caught - the murderers of 18-year-old Eliyahu Asheri last week - are: Bassam Artiya, 34, from the Omeri slums near Ramallah; Hamsa Taktouk, 22, of Ramallah; and Ayham Kamamji, 20, also of Ramallah. The three are members of the Al-Aksa Brigades of Fatah, and served in the Palestinian Authority's security services.



The General Security Service, which permitted the publications of their names several hours after they were apprehended, announced that Taktouk had attempted to carry out a suicide bombing three months ago, and that Artiya had been instrumental in the smuggling of weapons from Gaza to Judea/Samaria.



The three apparently abducted Eliyahu Asheri, a resident of Itamar, as he waited for a ride outside Ofrah, north of Jerusalem, on Sunday night, June 25. He was abducted only hours after the murderous attack in which two soldiers were killed and one was kidnapped in Kerem Shalom. Asheri was taken to Ramallah and murdered with a gunshot to his head shortly afterwards.



Even as late as Wednesday, the terrorists were implying that he was still alive - but IDF forces found his body that night. Thousands of people attended his Jerusalem funeral the next day; he was buried on the Mt. of Olives.



In other war news:

IDF forces found two car-bombs today that were to be used in attacks against Israel. The cars were found in the vicinity of Jenin, a PA-controlled city in the Shomron, during an IDF anti-terror operation in the city. Two large explosives - one of 24 kilograms - were found in a building there, shortly after terrorists left it...



Two terrorists who were detected placing an explosive device in Jenin were shot by IDF soldiers early Tuesday morning. PA sources report that one of the two, a senior Fatah Al-Aqsa commander, was killed...



IDF forces arrested nine terrorists overnight in Ramallah, Shechem, Bethlehem, and elsewhere. In PA-controlled Jericho, in the Jordan Valley, a firebomb was hurled at IDF soldiers. No one was hurt, and the forces responded with riot control measures.

IDF forces were targeted in bombing and shooting attacks in several other locations as well, but were not hurt...



An Israeli motorist escaped injuries Monday night when his vehicle was attacked in a firebomb attack in the El-Hader area, just north of Gush Etzion...