Hizbullah's Imad Mughniyeh Killed, Israel Denies Involvement
Imad Mughniyeh, a senior Hizbullah official and one of America's most wanted men, has been killed by Israeli agents, the party announced in a statement Wednesday, a claim denied by the Jewish state.
Hizbullah's statement did not say how he was assassinated. But a party official said that Mughniyeh was killed in Syria at a late night explosion Tuesday that destroyed a vehicle in Damascus' upscale Kafar Soussa neighborhood.
Mughniyeh, who has been in hiding for years, was among the fugitives indicted in the United States for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner in which a U.S. Navy diver was killed.
He was also suspected of masterminding attacks that killed more than 260 Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s when he was then Hizbullah's security chief.
Mughniyeh, 45, was also wanted for his suspected role in the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in the Argentinean capital which killed 29 people and for being involved in the planning of a blast at a Buenos Aires Jewish Center two years later that killed 95 people.
"With all pride we declare a great Jihadist leader of the Islamic resistance in Lebanon joining the martyrs ... The brother commander hajj Imad Mughniyeh became a martyr at the hands of the Zionist Israelis," said a statement carried on Hizbullah's Al Manar television which broke into Qoranic verses after the announcement.
"Israel rejects the attempt by terror groups to attribute to it any involvement in this incident," an Israeli official statement said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office had earlier refused to comment on Hizbullah's claims.
The Shiite party called on its supporters to join a funeral procession for Mughniyeh in Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, the same day the pro-government majority March 14 coalition is planning to hold a rally to commemorate the third anniversary of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination in Martyrs Square.
"Let us make our voice heard by all the enemies and murderers that we will make victory no matter how the sacrifices are," Hizbullah said, urging supporters "to carry on our shoulders a leader we were proud with his leadership."
Mughniyeh was suspected by Western intelligence services of working directly for Iranian intelligence and was on the U.S. State Department's list of most wanted terrorism suspects.
American intelligence officials have described Mughniyeh as Hizbullah's operations chief and was believed to have moved between Lebanon, Syria and Iran in disguise.
His last public appearance was believed to be at the funeral of his brother Fouad, who was killed on Dec. 12, 1994, when a booby-trapped car blew up in Beirut's southern suburbs.
Syrian security forces on Tuesday quickly sealed off the area of the blast and removed the destroyed Mitsubishi Pajero, which had its driver's seat and the rear seat blown away by the force of the explosion.
Witnesses in Damascus said that a passerby was killed as security forces removed the body, but Syrian authorities would not give details.
Iran's English-language satellite station Press TV said an Iranian school and a Syrian intelligence office were in the same area of Kafar Soussa where the explosion occurred.
Mughniyeh's assassination was the first major attack against a leader of Hizbullah since the 1992 helicopter strike that killed the party's secretary-general Sheikh Abbas Moussawi in southern Lebanon.(AP-AFP-Naharnet)
Naharnet
Imad Mughniyeh, a senior Hizbullah official and one of America's most wanted men, has been killed by Israeli agents, the party announced in a statement Wednesday, a claim denied by the Jewish state.
Hizbullah's statement did not say how he was assassinated. But a party official said that Mughniyeh was killed in Syria at a late night explosion Tuesday that destroyed a vehicle in Damascus' upscale Kafar Soussa neighborhood.
Mughniyeh, who has been in hiding for years, was among the fugitives indicted in the United States for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner in which a U.S. Navy diver was killed.
He was also suspected of masterminding attacks that killed more than 260 Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s when he was then Hizbullah's security chief.
Mughniyeh, 45, was also wanted for his suspected role in the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in the Argentinean capital which killed 29 people and for being involved in the planning of a blast at a Buenos Aires Jewish Center two years later that killed 95 people.
"With all pride we declare a great Jihadist leader of the Islamic resistance in Lebanon joining the martyrs ... The brother commander hajj Imad Mughniyeh became a martyr at the hands of the Zionist Israelis," said a statement carried on Hizbullah's Al Manar television which broke into Qoranic verses after the announcement.
"Israel rejects the attempt by terror groups to attribute to it any involvement in this incident," an Israeli official statement said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office had earlier refused to comment on Hizbullah's claims.
The Shiite party called on its supporters to join a funeral procession for Mughniyeh in Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, the same day the pro-government majority March 14 coalition is planning to hold a rally to commemorate the third anniversary of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination in Martyrs Square.
"Let us make our voice heard by all the enemies and murderers that we will make victory no matter how the sacrifices are," Hizbullah said, urging supporters "to carry on our shoulders a leader we were proud with his leadership."
Mughniyeh was suspected by Western intelligence services of working directly for Iranian intelligence and was on the U.S. State Department's list of most wanted terrorism suspects.
American intelligence officials have described Mughniyeh as Hizbullah's operations chief and was believed to have moved between Lebanon, Syria and Iran in disguise.
His last public appearance was believed to be at the funeral of his brother Fouad, who was killed on Dec. 12, 1994, when a booby-trapped car blew up in Beirut's southern suburbs.
Syrian security forces on Tuesday quickly sealed off the area of the blast and removed the destroyed Mitsubishi Pajero, which had its driver's seat and the rear seat blown away by the force of the explosion.
Witnesses in Damascus said that a passerby was killed as security forces removed the body, but Syrian authorities would not give details.
Iran's English-language satellite station Press TV said an Iranian school and a Syrian intelligence office were in the same area of Kafar Soussa where the explosion occurred.
Mughniyeh's assassination was the first major attack against a leader of Hizbullah since the 1992 helicopter strike that killed the party's secretary-general Sheikh Abbas Moussawi in southern Lebanon.(AP-AFP-Naharnet)
Naharnet
