Hamas questions suicide bombers' identities

According to a Hamas statement last night, the four people named by Israel as suicide bombers were not involved in the July 30 and September 4 attacks in Jerusalem. The statement said the four may have actually been killed in confrontations with Israeli military, although that is uncertain.

ArabicNews.com first broke the story published on September 25 that questioned the official Israeli account because, among other things, two of the alleged bombers' faces in photos of their bodies were relatively undamaged and clearly identifiable, "so clear that any person could have identified the two Palestinians, and thus Israel had no reason to wait for almost a month until it published their names."

Dr. Ahmad Tibi, special advisor on Israeli affairs to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, said after the identities were announced that more evidence was needed against the accused bombers before the Israeli account could be taken for granted.

The men identified as the bombers were traced to the Palestinian village of Assira Ash-Shamaliya in the north of the West Bank. The area is under Israeli security control and Palestinian civil control.