An official from the Syria-based leadership of the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility Saturday for the suicide bombing that killed late Friday night four Israelis in Tel Aviv. The official contradicted a denial issued by the Movement in the Palestinian territories shortly after the suicide attack. An anonymous caller claiming affiliation with the Quds Brigades, military wing of Islamic Jihad, took the credit for the attack in a phone call with a news agency minutes after the blast.
Palestinian police arrested two suspects in connection with the nightclub bombing, and local security officials in the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem said the suspects had ties to Islamic Jihad.
Earlier in the day, Palestinian security officials had pointed to Lebanon's Hizbullah.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas himself said that a "third party" was responsible for the bombing, but stopped short of mentioning Hizbullah by name.
After an emergency meeting with his security officials, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas pledged to track down those responsible for Friday's suicide bombing.
"The Palestinian Authority will not stand silent in the face of this act of sabotage. We will follow and track down those responsible and they will be punished accordingly," said a statement issued by Abbas. "What happened tonight was an act of sabotage toward the peace process and an attempt to ruin the efforts to establish a state of calm," the statement added. Abbas also called for a joint Israel-Palestinian investigation into the bombing.
Meanwhile, the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, military wing of the Fatah Movement, refuted responsibility for the Friday night attack, which killed four Israelis and injured more than 50 others. "We, in the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, assert our full commitment to the calming down based on national consensus, which was agreed upon with the PA chief Mahmoud Abbas," said Abu Qusai, the Brigades' media spokesperson, in a press statement to Quds Press."We contacted the Brigades' commanders across the country, and confirmed that they had nothing to do with this operation," he added.
The military wing's spokesman further underscored that his Movement was still committed to the truce currently reached with the Israeli side, and opined that the attack would harm the Palestinian people's higher interests.
On his part, Dr. Mohammed Al-Hindi, one of the Islamic Jihad Movement's prominent leaders, also denied that his Movement was involved in the blast, and highlighted that Islamic Jihad was still adhering to the calming down. Hizbullah also denied any involvement.
It should be noted that Israel held the PA fully accountable for the bombing, and affirmed that the PA efforts for forging a truce had failed.
