The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) cleared for publication on the afternoon of Monday, February 29 that Israeli forces have arrested several Hebron-based terrorists responsible for committing several sniper shooting attacks that wounded four Israelis.

Two of the terrorists arrested are 23-year-old Naser Faisal Mohamed Badawi, a Hamas operative, and 33-year-old Akram Faisal Mohamed Badawi. They are brothers and residents of the Abu Sneineh neighborhood of the Judean city of Hebron.

Naser Badawi was arrested on January 9, 2016, and Akram Badawi was arrested over a week later after carrying out an unsuccessful attack by himself. He admitted under interrogation that he had been trying to divert suspicion from his brother.

An improvised sniper rifle that was used in the attacks was confiscated during the arrest and interrogation of the suspects. Another weapon, which one of the brothers planned to use in future attacks, was also seized.

The sniper rifle was hidden by the two brothers inside a mosque in the city, but was taken out to carry out the attacks. The investigation further revealed that they made an improvised silencer out of an oil filter after learning how to do so from an internet video.

The interrogation revealed that the attacks committed by the two brothers included a shooting attack near the Tomb of the Patriarchs on November 6, 2015. Akram shot a group of worshipers from the window of an apartment owned by his father, wounding two Israeli civilians. After carrying out the attack, the brothers continued on to their cousin’s wedding.

Naser Badawi decided to carry out the attack following the death of a terrorist from Hebron who had carried out a car-ramming attack on the same day.

Naser committed another shooting attack on November 25 directed at an IDF soldier, but he missed and hit a parked car. The brother carried out additional shooting attacks directed at an IDF checkpoint in Hebron. Most were unsuccessful, but a soldier sustained light injuries in an incident on January 3, 2016.

The brothers also shot and moderately wounded an IDF soldier on the same day. They noticed a group of soldiers near the Tomb of the Patriarchs and shot at them from the same apartment.