Six members of Nablus-based terror group Lions’ Den, including its leader, Mahmoud al-Banna, have turned themselves in to the Palestinian Authority and have been placed in protective custody in Jericho, Israeli media reported on Thursday.
Another 15 members of the group are in talks with P.A. security forces regarding disarmament, according to Mako. The talks are being overseen P.A. Interior Minister Ziad Hab al-Reeh, according to the report.
Al-Bana stated on his Facebook page that he had taken the decision after “the murder that Israel committed,” referring to a significant Israeli counter-terrorism raid on the group’s headquarters in Nablus, which killed the group’s former leader, Wadi al-Houh, and a number of additional gunmen.
However, the terror group claimed via its Telegram channel that those who had turned themselves in had acted on their own, and denied that the organization was engaged in a dialogue with the P.A.
The report cited Palestinian sources as assessing that it will be possible to reach future arrangements with most of the group’s members, whereas terror groups in Jenin will be more difficult to “crack.”
Overnight Tuesday, Israel security forces launched counter-terrorism operations throughout Judea and Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank, arresting three suspected Lions’ Den operatives in Nablus.
Among the captives was Muhammad al-Nabulsi, brother of terrorist Ibrahim al-Nabulsi, aka “Lion of Nablus,” who was killed by Israeli security forces in August.
The Lions’ Den terrorist group is responsible for the murder of IDF Staff Sgt. Ido Baruch on Oct. 11 in Samaria, and attempted to carry out a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv on Sept. 8. The group is also behind the planting of a bomb at a gas station in Kedumim in Samaria, and several other shootings in Samaria against Israeli targets.
