Hussam Abdo
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Hussam Abdo (born 1987) is a Palestinian who made international headlines on March 24, 2004, when he was apparently forced to enter the Hawara Checkpoint, in West Bank, Israel, carrying bombs as part of a suicide attack attempt.
While most of the media has said that Abdo was not acting on his own will, Abdo's mother has declared that the boy had expressed desire to go to "paradise". According to her, he decided he did not want to die when the moment to commit the attacks arrived. Hussam Abdo's brother said that Abdo possesses the intelligence of a twelve year old.
Abdo then aged 16 wore the bomb on a red vest. When he approached the checkpoint, Israeli soldiers noticed he had something on his clothing, and they took cover. When Abdo said he had a bomb, a specialized robot was sent to him so that he could cut off the explosives. He was then searched for more bombs, but none were found. The bomb on Abdo's vest was later exploded at a safe area; it was an eighteen pound bomb.
After being detained, Abdo told soldiers that he did not want to die or explode. He said that he was offered 100 NIS and sex with virgins. He said his friends mocked him in class. [1]
Abdo may or may not belong to the group al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, listed by the US Department of State as a terrorist group, which claimed responsibility for the attack. Abdo is one of a growing group of children under 18 who have been detected trying to carry out suicide attacks aimed at the Israeli Army in the Occupied Territories.
Hussam Abdo's story, and that of the child suicide bombing phenomenon in the Palestinian Territories, was captured in the award-winning documentary "The Making of A Martyr", by Brooke Goldtstein and Alistair Leyland.
