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Israeli-Arab citizen charged of planning bus attack

Xinhua, February 21, 2017 Adjust font size:

An Israeli-Arab citizen was indicted Sunday with planning attacks on a bus in Tel Aviv and other locations on behalf of the Islamic State.

Anas Haj Yehiye, a 35-year-old resident of the Arab town of Taibe in central Israel, was arrested on January 29 and interrogated by the Shin Bet security service.

The Shin Bet said in a statement that during the investigation, "it was learned that Haj Yehiye had been in contact with IS operatives and had disseminated both extremist material and knowledge regarding the production of explosives."

He planned to carry out an attack on a bus in Tel Aviv, Israel's financial capital, and another attack against soldiers, but the plans were never realized, according to his indictment.

He pledged his allegiance to the IS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and had considered going to Syria to join in the fighting.

He joined online groups of IS operatives and distributed information on the production of explosive belts and the preparation of sarin, a lethal gas used as a chemical weapon.

The Shin Bet considers Islamic State supporters in Israel as "a severe security threat," and said Israel "will use all counter-terrorist and preventive means at its disposal and will with those involved to the fullest extent of the law."

Over the past years, dozens of Arab Israelis were arrested and underwent legal proceedings under suspicion that they have gone to Syria, or planned to do so, in order to join the IS.

Israel outlawed any affiliation with the Salafi jihadist group in 2015. Endit