14 year old bomber stopped at Israeli border

So sad:

Israel Defense Forces paratroopers caught a Palestinian boy
aged 14 wearing an explosive belt at the Hawara roadblock, south of
Nablus, in the West Bank on Wednesday afternoon. Sappers used a
remote-controlled robot to pass scissors to the boy, Hussam Abdu from
Nablus, so that he could cut the explosive belt off his body, and then
safely detonated it in a controlled explosion.
Abdu, who was taken in for questioning, said that he received NIS 100 (approx. $23 USD) to carry out a suicide attack.[...]
Abdu told soldiers of his dream of receiving 72 virgins in heaven,
which his dispatchers had promised him, and said that he had been
tempted by the promise of sexual relations with the virgins. He said
that he had been bullied at school for his poor academic performance
and that he had wanted "to be a hero."
[...]
Soldiers at the checkpoint said they had received intelligence that
there was an imminent attack planned there, shut down the crossing and
began searching people there.
Suddenly the boy, wearing an oversized red jersey, approached them in a
suspicious way, said an officer at the checkpoint.
"We saw that he had something under his shirt," he said. The soldiers
dove behind concrete barricades, pointed their guns at him and told him
to stop.
They ordered him to take off his jersey, revealing a large gray bomb
vest underneath. "He told us he didn't want to die. He didn't want to
blow up," the officer said.
The soldiers then sent the robot to hand the scissors to the boy. He
cut off part of the vest and struggled with the rest. "I don't how to
get this off," Abdu called to the soldiers.
After he dropped the vest, soldiers ordered him to take off his
undershirt and jeans, to ensure he had no other weapons on him.

A television image showing the Palestinian boy who was dispatched Wednesday to an IDF roadblock wearing an explosives belt.

Posted by flow Frazao on March 25, 2004 at 08:09 AM | Permalink