Terror Bombings Half a World Away

A suicide bombing in the Israeli resort city of Eilat killed three Israelis today. It's the first suicide bombing inside Israel in nine months, and while that is newsworthy in and of itself, it doesn't quite tell the full story. The Palestinian terror groups haven't stopped trying to attack Israelis with suicide bombers during that time; they've been thwarted by the security fence, checkpoints, and Israeli law enforcement. The Palestinian terrorists have also used the kassam rockets to fire into Israel figuring that it is easier to attack Israelis that way than to cross into Israel from Gaza and some areas of the West Bank. Three different terrorist groups claimed responsibility - Fatah's al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and a group calling itself Army of Believers.

Israeli officials believed that the suicide bomber may have set the bomb off prematurely after arousing suspicions.

Investigations into Monday morning's suicide bombing in Eilat, the first to strike Israel's southernmost city, indicated that the 21-year-old bomber (Muhammed Faisal al-Saksak, a resident of the Gaza Strip and member of the Fatah-affiliated Aksa Martyrs Brigades) may not have intended to detonate his explosives pack in a bakery, but planned to execute the attack in a more crowded area.

According to reports by security sources, at least two local residents had spotted Saksak, whose heavy coat and large bag aroused their suspicions, and called the police. Channel 2 reported that one of the people who alerted local police was the taxi driver who took Saksak into town.

Saksak, who appeared to have stopped at the bakery for coffee before reaching his final destination, blew himself up after he saw the police cars approaching.

Even as the Palestinians are busy killing each other over who will control the fate of the Palestinians, they have enough time to plot and kill Israelis. Expect to see the Israelis tighten the border security, which Olmert loosened as a confidence building measure with the Palestinians. The Palestinians, of course, will complain that the Israelis are choking the economic life out of Gazans (though the Palestinians are doing that quite well with their ongoing civil war).

Meanwhile, half a world away, Muslim fanatics appear to be behind the killings of four people in Southern Thailand.

Four people have been shot dead and two others injured in attacks by suspected Islamic militants in Thailand’s insurgency-torn southern provinces, according to police.

A 33-year-old Muslim was gunned down in a drive-by shooting late Sunday as he rode a motorcycle home in Yala, one of three Muslim-majority provinces bordering Malaysia, police said.

In neighbouring Pattani province, a 46-year-old Buddhist man was also killed in a drive-by shooting late Sunday.

Meanwhile, a Buddhist couple, both in their 40s, were killed after insurgents opened fire on their house in Songkhla province, near Yala. Two other Buddhists were seriously injured in the attack.

Thailand has been battling Islamists for quite some time now, and the prior government was deposed in a coup by a more sympathetic military leadership, but it appears that appeasement isn't working out for the Thais very well. They just released 19 people who were arrested for a series of bombings on New Years for lack of evidence, though the clashes with the Muslim separatists continues:

Meanwhile, suspected Muslim separatists ambushed police patrols and torched a school as Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont returned to southern Thailand Saturday for a third attempt at ending the bloody insurgency, officials said.

A police sergeant was in critical condition after he was shot three times at close range while on patrol with three other officers in the busy market in Yala, the capital of Yala Province, said a police major, Suthas Noosikhong.

On Friday night, suspected insurgents killed a police sergeant in Pattani Province and set fire to a government school in Yala, totally destroying it.

UPDATE:
Hot Air notes that the Palestinians heroically liberated a Zionist bakery, which is sarcasm for those who aren't familiar with the stylings of Allahpundit. Of course, the Palestinians (and the Islamists in general) regularly elevate those suicide bombers to exalted status as a result of killing infidels at their jobs, waiting in line for bread, going to restaurants, riding buses, and minding their own business.

UPDATE:
The IDF has thwarted more than 100 infiltation attempts by Palestinian terrorists into Israel via Egypt over the past year. The Palestinians haven't ceased trying to kill Israelis, it has only been more difficult for Palestinian terrorists to be successful at killing Israelis.

In response to today's suicide bombing, the IDF will resume military operations inside Gaza. That shouldn't bode well for the Palestinian terrorist groups, but they'll claim that it is Israel who is breaking the ceasefire agreement. The terrorists will try and use this as a rallying cry to unite the various terrorist groups in common cause against Israel. Indeed, that was Islamic Jihad's intent according to their communique.