July07-2007
Jibril's PFLP-GC Has Hand in Gemayel's Killing That was Carried Out by Fatah al-Islam
Retrieved from Naharnet on July 07, 2007
The Fatah al-Islam terrorist group has carried out the assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel as reliable sources informed of the investigation told Naharnet that Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command played a role in the crime.
The daily An Nahar said Saturday that Police have finalized the investigation into the murder of Gemayel, scion of Lebanon's most prominent Christian family and a leading opponent of Syria, who was gunned down near Beirut Nov. 22, 2006.
Citing well-informed sources, the paper said interrogation with Fatah al-Islam detainees revealed that the "executor" of the Gemayel crime was the al-Qaida inspired terrorist group led by Shaker Abssi.
An Nahar's report came a day after reliable sources told Naharnet that a vehicle used in the Gemayel assassination, a Honda VRC, was stolen from the mountain resort of Brummana in October 2006 and taken to an area in the northern sector of the eastern Bekaa valley where car bandits operate.
Shortly after that, a member of Jibril's Syrian-backed PFLP-GC approached the gang and bartered the car for a quantity of weapons, the sources added.
The car was used in the assassination of Gemayel in suburban Jdaideh, almost a month after it was stolen from Brummana, the sources added.
The vehicle was later driven to Syria, which turned it back to Lebanon in Dec. 2006 in line with a warrant issued by the Interpol, they explained.
One source said lab tests showed that the car was used in the Gemayel murder and two of the gunmen who used it were killed later in clashes between Lebanese Forces and Fatah al-Islam terrorists in Tripoli's Mitein street on May 20.
Bodies of the gunmen and samples taken from the car were under lab tests to determine identities of all the culprits who gunned down Gemayel, the source added.
He said all details related to the investigation in Gemayel's killing and the Fatah al-Islam link have been relayed to the U.N. committee investigating the 2005 killing of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes.