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B’chasdei Hashem, on July 17, 2016, a suspicious Arab male was detected at a Jerusalem light rail stop on Yaffo Street near King George Street.

It is now cleared for publication that the suspect taken into custody is 21-year-old Hebron area engineering student Ali Abu Hassan, who was indicted on Tuesday, 27 Tammuz in the Jerusalem Magistrate Court. Authorities have learned that he crossed into Green Line Israel two days earlier via an olive grove in the Jabil Mukhaber area and on the morning of the planned attack, he shaved his beard, leaving a goatee, changed clothing to a running suit and a cap, and then prayed in an area mosque, all in the hope of fitting in and not attracting suspicion. He was planning an attack to avenge permitting Jews and others to visit Har Habayis and al-Aqsa.

He then boarded a bus in the Talpiot area carrying his backpack containing the bomb. He got off in city center and headed to the light rail stop in the area of Yaffo and King George streets, where he elicited the suspicion of security personnel, who took him into custody.

It is reported that he was contemplating striking at a busy restaurant, but when he saw how many passengers were on the light rail he changed targets.

Authorities found three pipe bombs in his backpack all connected together with tape with nails and screw attached to maximize carnage during the explosion. Two knives and a cell phone were also found in the bag. B’chasdei Hashem the security guard realized he was a terrorist and acted as he did.

Prior to leaving the Hebron area he wrote a will, which was left in the university, asking to send his parents a message. Police report he was operating alone, without the assistance of a terrorist infrastructure.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photos: Police spokesman unit via Media Resource Group)