Elite Israeli forces killed a senior Hamas terrorist in the southern Hevron Hills early Thursday morning after a shootout that lasted several hours. None of the Israeli forces was hurt in the battle, and several local villagers were arrested after Dudin was killed.
Border Police, IDF ground soldiers and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) personnel arrived in the village of Dura, southwest of Hevron and north of Be’er Sheva, to arrest Abad al Majid Dudin, commander of the area military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization.
Dudin was involved in carrying out the 1995 suicide bombing on bus line 26 in the Ramat Eshkol neighborhood of Jerusalem, in which five people were murdered and more than 100 wounded. One of the victims was an American teacher. Dudin also was responsible for the bombing of bus line 20 in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan that same year; six civilians were murdered in that attack.
The special forces, backed by 16 army vehicles, tried first to flush out the terrorist from his hideout, using bulldozers and blowing up a well where explosives had been hidden. His death also settled accounts for the Palestinian Authority, which is led by the Fatah faction and has been in combat against Hamas for the past three years.
Elsewhere in Judea and Samaria, Israeli forces arrested two wanted terrorists in Jenin and seven in Shechem, cities where the PA has deployed American-trained forces who are intended to fight terror.
IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said earlier this week that although the PA forces are improving their capability, they are not yet ready to take over the task of eliminating terror in Judea and Samaria.