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Arms cache 'ready for launch'
26/09/2007 21:07 - (SA)
Bethlehem, West Bank - Palestinian security services on Wednesday uncovered a cache of explosives and rockets which they said belonged to Hamas in the West Bank town of Beit Jala, near Jerusalem.
In the cache seized from a building in the town were two rockets marked Qassam 1 and Qassam 2, the names of rockets made by the armed wing of Hamas, said an official with Palestinian intelligence, adding the projectiles were "ready for launch."
Also seized were explosive devices and material for making bombs, the official said.
Security officials said the weapons belonged to militants of the radical Hamas movement.
Palestinian security services loyal to president Mahmud Abbas have been leading a crack down on Hamas in the West Bank ever since the Islamists violently seized control over the Gaza Strip last June.
The Israeli army later said the Palestinian security forces "transfered two pipe-like objects that could have been used as rocket launchers," but a security official said they were "not operational."
"There have been ongoing attempts by Palestinian militants to carry out rocket attacks in the West Bank, but so far all attempts have been foiled," the official told AFP.
Israel has been struggling with little effect to curb Palestinian rocket fire from the Gaza Strip towards the south of the country over the past six years.
- AFP
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