Terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria have resumed use of an old form of attack – planting bombs on roadsides, then setting them off using mobile phones. The change was revealed in a recent IDF Spokesperson’s Office report.
The report showed that after several years in which phone-operated bombs were barely used, the style of attack was used several times in 2011 and 2012, with increasing frequency.
The last such attack occurred in April 2012. Terrorists used mobile phones to set off bombs in the Hevron region. The attackers were targeting Israeli motorists.
Thankfully, the attack failed to cause harm. The IDF nabbed two of the terrorists, both of them 26-year-olds from the Palestinian Authority town of Yatta, and the two were indicted last week.
The most highly publicized remotely activated bomb attack in recent years was the bombing outside the Binyanei Hauma building in Jerusalem, across the street from Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station. A British woman was killed in the bombing, and 35 people were wounded. One of them, a teenage girl, remains comatose.
Experts said terrorist groups have upgraded their capabilities. The roadside bombs used in recent months were better camouflaged and more technically advanced than those used in the past, they said. However, there has been no upgrade in the type of explosives used.