A Jewish driver was moderately wounded in a shooting near Modiin Illit Thursday night. The attack was apparently carried out by a terrorist cell affiliated with Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah organization. A second shooting attack was unsuccessful, and security forces 
The victim was apparently wounded by terrorists who fired at him from a passing vehicle.
revealed that a bombing attack on mass transit was recently averted.
According to the Magen David Adom first-response service, Palestinian Authority terrorists shot a 40-year-old Jewish man as he drove his car near Dir Kadis, adjacent to Modiin Illit in the Binyamin region. The victim was apparently wounded by terrorists who fired at him from a passing vehicle. Despite wounds to his shoulder and arm, the Israeli man managed to drive to the nearby Naalin checkpoint, where IDF soldiers administered first aid. His wounds were listed as moderate and he was evacuated to Tel Hashomer Hospital, located in Ramat Gan.
The cell that claimed responsibility for the shooting, calling itself the Freedom and Liberty Units, is affiliated with Fatah. At the head of Fatah is PA Chairman Abbas, Israel's current partner in ongoing negotiations. PA policemen, it will be recalled, have also been revealed as perpetrators of recent terrorist shooting attacks that claimed the lives of three young Jewish men - Ido Zoldan, Achikam Amichai and David Rubin.
Despite the claim of responsibility by the Fatah cell, security sources said they are currently treating the case as a criminal one. The wounded driver was apparently acquainted with his attackers.
A Second Shooting Attack Reported
Another shooting attack was reported Thursday by an Israeli driver who reached an IDF roadblock in the vicinity of Avnei Hefetz, not far from Tulkarem in Samaria. The car was not hit, but the driver said he saw the bullets strike the road.
IDF forces combed the area of the attack and confirmed the incident. Soldiers located the vantage point from which the shooter opened fire and determined that he had been lying in wait for a passing vehicle. A firebomb, ready for throwing, was also found nearby.
In a separate incident, at the Beit Furik checkpoint east of Shechem, IDF soldiers discovered parts of a disassembled handgun and ammunition in the possession of an Arab who tried to pass through. He was transferred to General Security Services agents for questioning.
Train Bombing Averted
Also on Thursday, the General Security Services released information about a terrorist plot to plant explosives along the train tracks between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. A joint operation between the IDF and the GSS successfully prevented the attack.
Five PA terrorists were taken into custody when IDF soldiers discovered a bomb-making laboratory and prepared explosives in the village of Nehalim, near the PA-controlled Judean city of Bethlehem, just south of Jerusalem.