Palestinian Authority preventive security troops uncovered a weapons cache early Wednesday in the Arab village of Marda that included instructions for producing rockets, and money with which to buy materials.
Marda is located in the Salfit district of the PA-controlled area of Samaria, adjacent to the Jewish city of Ariel and about 18 kilometers southwest of Shechem. The PA troops found M-16 rifles, handguns, explosive materials, ammunition, night vision equipment and telescopic sites in the cache.
The Fatah-led PA government in Ramallah said the cache belonged to the Hamas terrorist organization.
In addition, PA security forces discovered a computer disk with technical information on how to produce a rocket, and the sum of NIS 600,000 ($162,000).
A “Palestinian informed source” quoted by IkhwanWeb, the official English website of the Muslim Brotherhood later denied the report, calling it “a sheer lie” that “raises question marks around the group behind this fabricated news.”
In other security news, IDF soldiers arrested eight wanted PA fugitives early Thursday morning for suspected terror activity in Judea and Samaria. All were transferred to Israel Security Agency (ISA-Shin Bet) personnel for questioning.
Late Wednesday night, shots were fired at an Israeli vehicle traveling through Samaria on the road near the PA-controlled Arab city of Kalkilya. The incident is under investigation.
On Thursday, a PA Arab suspect who was fleeing the scene of an arrest fell off a roof and was lightly injured, according to the IDF Spokesperson. The suspect was evacuated in a military vehicle.