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December 23, 2003
Security guard slain in terror shooting
MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Sami Al-Kamlat, 38, of Rahat was killed in a terrorist shooting while guarding a surveyor measuring the site where the security fence is to be constructed near the Palestinian village of Idna in the southern Hebron Hills on Wednesday afternoon.
Fatah’s Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack. An IDF officer told The Jerusalem Post that security officials believe Palestinian landowners from Idna were involved in the murder.
Close to 2 p. m., Kamlat, who worked for a private security firm, was guarding the surveyor near a parking lot for the heavy mechanical vehicles used in the construction work when a Palestinian approached him.
A second security guard deployed nearby told security officials that the two talked and then began to argue as the Palestinian attempted to snatch Kamlat’s weapon. Kamlat resisted and a second Palestinian from a nearby field jumped into the fracas, and Kamlat was shot.
The two assailants grabbed Kamlat’s weapon and chased the other security guard before fleeing in a car toward Idna.
The second security guard alerted the police and the IDF and tried to treat his friend’s wounds. Magen David Adom medics who arrived were unable to save Kamlat.
Security forces searching the area found two homemade guns and a knife left by the assailants. It is not clear whether Kamlat was killed with his own rifle or with one of his assailants’ handguns.
Officials noted that hours earlier, Palestinian landowners from Idna were asked to identify their plots and were photographed by Israeli officials in preparation for possible court appeals that may be lodged regarding the construction of the fence on Palestinian land.
The army imposed a curfew on Idna as soldiers searched the village. At nightfall the curfew was lifted and troops pulled out.
Late Wednesday night a gag order was imposed on the investigation, preventing the publishing of any new details concerning the probe.
Security officials said the investigation will focus on intelligence gathering and raised doubts as to whether the attack was connected to the murder of Ariella Fahima in Moshav Nehusha near Beit Shemesh on Tuesday.
In Memoriam
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