Israeli army set to unveil stink bomb

* Palestinian intelligence chief wounded in attack on convoy
* Man killed outside military base in northern Israel

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army is set to unveil a new weapon designed to get under the noses of Palestinians - a massive stink bomb.

A report in the Maariv daily on Wednesday said that the military, which has long used tear gas and rubber bullets, was fine-tuning the so-called “Skunk” bomb as a non-lethal means to disperse crowds. Scientists from the administration for the development of weapons and infrastructure investigated the pong emitted by skunks in nature to make their enemies flee, the paper said.Now security chiefs hope that the odour given off by the bombs will have much the same effect.

Trials found that only a few drops of the odour can cause an unbearable stench and can also make clothes smell for five years. The acting head of the Palestinian intelligence services was seriously wounded on Wednesday when gunmen ambushed his convoy and killed two of his bodyguards, underscoring a collapse of law and order in the territory.

The attack targeting Tareq Abu Rajab’s convoy in Gaza City came as MPs demanded concrete reforms of the security services in a much-anticipated session of parliament in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Rajab, 58, was hit in the chest in the attack near the Shatti refugee camp in the west of the city as his convoy headed towards his local headquarters.

The attack on the three-vehicle convoy appeared to have been carried out from inside the coastal refugee camp by three masked men who promptly fled the scene of the shooting.

Rajab was taken for treatment to Gaza City’s main Al-Shifa Hospital where two other bodyguards were being treated. Medics said Rajab was in serious condition and undergoing surgery.

The sources said that one of the dead bodyguards, 27-year-old Khamis Abdel Jawad, was killed at the scene while a second, Samir Hijjo, 37, died of his injuries in hospital.Rajab, 58, has been at the helm of the intelligence services since previous incumbent Amin al-Hindi resigned in July after a series of kidnappings in the territory.

The head of preventive security, General Rashid Abu Shabak, denounced the “cowardly crime” as he visited his colleague in hospital and promised that the perpetrators “will not escape punishment”.

“The Palestinian Authority must take firm measures to put an end to this deteriorating security situation to which no Palestinian official is now immune,” he added.

An Israeli soldier killed a man who attacked and injured him with an axe outside a military base in Galilee, northern Israel on Tuesday, military sources said. The attack happened while the solider was on guard at the entrance to the Amiyad base.

The nationality of the assailant was not immediately known. The soldier was later treated in hospital for his injuries, the sources added without giving further details. agencies

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