IDF arrests 2 Al-Aqsa militants, 3 schoolmates of teen bomber

Israel Defense Forces jeeps entered the West Bank village of Kufr Kalil, near Nablus, on Thursday afternoon, the army and Palestinian witnesses said, during a search for two militants from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

The suspects - brothers Talat and Odai Sayel - fled but were caught by troops, the IDF said. The group is linked to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.

On Wednesday night, IDF troops arrested three youths who attended the same school as teenage would-be suicide bomber Hussam Abdu, Palestinian sources said.

Security sources said Thursday that Abdu was 16 years old, not 14 as previously thought. On Wednesday he told soldiers that he was 14 and that he attended ninth grade. Troops thought he was a child, due to his short stature, and initial military reports put his age at 12.

<snip>

Read more here...