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A previously unknown Arab terrorist group took credit Tuesday for an apparent bombing attack in northern Israel Monday.
Early on Monday morning, 21-year-old Shareef ad-Din, a resident of the Israeli-Arab village of Salem in the Jezreel Valley, was injured after an explosive device detonated on the side of the road as he was driving by on Route 65, near Megiddo Junction, just north of the Green Line separating pre-1967 Israel from Samaria.
Ad-Din suffered shrapnel wounds across his body, including his head, and is listed in serious condition.
While police initially considered the possibility of a criminal motive, on Tuesday, an organization calling itself the Galilee Forces – Lone Wolves released a video taking credit for the attack, and vowing future attacks.
“One of our wolves planted a roadside bomb at Megiddo junction. The bomb went off and the wolves were unhurt after withdrawing the area,” the group said in a statement.
As a number of Israeli targets are shown in the video, the group warns that the targets “are monitored and the weapons are ready.”
A report by the Hezbollah-aligned Al-Manar media outlet in Lebanon linked a second, failed bombing attack to the new terror group.
While Israel’s security establishment has refused to release details of the incident, Al-Manar reported that a bomb was found near Adamit Junction, less than a mile south of the Lebanon border.
The explosive device was reportedly located and disarmed by an Israeli bomb squad, Al-Manar reported.
Israeli media outlets have reported on an uptick in both the quality and quantity of bombs used in attacks – both foiled and successful – in Israel recently.
A report by Ha’aretz Tuesday compared the roadside bomb in Megiddo to the types of explosive devices used by terrorist forces in southern Lebanon prior to the 2000 Israeli withdrawal.
