Terrorist commander Ala Abu Roub was killed by IDF soldiers in the northern Samaria village of Kabatiya late on Wednesday night, IDF soldiers reported Thursday. The report was disputed by local Arabs.
Abu-Roub was the local head of Islamic Jihad. IDF sources said he was responsible for several terrorist attacks, and had attempted to carry out attacks in the recent past.
Senior officials said that at the time of his death, Abu-Roub and his subordinates had been planning an attack that was to take place west of the 1949 armistice line.
Troops entered Abu-Roub's house in an attempt to arrest him, IDF commanders said. When they saw he was armed, soldiers opened fire and killed him.
A search of the terror commander's house revealed a bomb and several ammunition clips.
Local Arabs disputed the IDF's report that Abu-Roub had been killed. While a man named Ala Ad-Din Abu-Roub was indeed killed, the terrorist wanted by the IDF is currently being held by Palestinian Authority forces, and the man killed was a different person with the same name, PA sources told Ynet.
Abu-Roub was buried in his village near Jenin on Thursday afternoon. Several senior terrorists attended the event, which quickly became a terror rally filled with cries to attack Israel.