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Would-be Terrorist Had Mental Disabilities
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
April 12, 2004

NABLUS, WEST BANK--According to various media reports, the would-be suicide bomber who gave himself up at a West Bank checkpoint on March 24 was a 16-year-old Palestinian boy with mental disabilities.

The image of Hussam Abdo surrendering to Israeli soldiers was captured on video and broadcast around the world. When guards at the Hawara checkpoint grew suspicious of Abdo's oversized red shirt, they pointed their guns at him and ordered him to stop.

"We saw that he had something under his shirt," said Lt. Tamir Milrad. "He told us he didn't want to die. He didn't want to blow up."

After Abdo asked for help removing the vest, soldiers used a remote control bomb disposal robot to deliver him a pair of scissors.

The boy cut part of the vest and struggled to get out of the rest.

"I don't how to get this off," he said, before he finally removed it.

Army officials who later blew up the vest said it included an 8 kilogram (18 pound) bomb.

Abdo, who said that he had been teased in school, told authorities he wanted to be a hero. He explained that those who strapped the bomb to him promised that his mother would receive about $20, and that he would receive 72 virgins in paradise if he became a martyr and died while killing Israelis.

Abdo's family said the boy acted strangely that day, and gave candy to friends and family members without explaining why. They said he was not affiliated with any militant group, and that he did not want people to be disappointed in him.

Members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades later claimed responsibility for the foiled attack, according to the Associated Press.

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