*UPDATE*
JERUSALEM — Twelve hours after the Israeli Army began a desperate search for what it feared was an abducted soldier, it said late Thursday that it had ruled out any such possibility.
“The special operations room has been closed and all roadblocks have been removed,” a military spokeswoman said. “Both the army and the Shin Bet have ruled out any kidnapping. There is still an investigation under way to understand what happened.” Shin Bet is Israel’s internal security agency.
From Earlier:
Remember this is what triggered the war with Hezbollah in 2006. This time though, Netanyahu is in charge. This should get really interesting if it’s confirmed to be true. Al Quds is a relatively small group, but are known to have associated with Hezbollah in the past.
JERUSALEM — Police set up dozens of roadblocks across central Israel on Thursday as the military said it was investigating a report that one of its soldiers may have been kidnapped.
The alert was sounded after a female soldier reported seeing another soldier being forced into a car outside an army base, the army said. However, it said no further evidence of an abduction has been found.
Later, a little known Palestinian group calling itself Al Quds Army claimed responsibility for kidnapping a soldier in an e-mail sent to the Palestinian news agency, Maan.
In the e-mail, they promised to release details of the soldier later, said Maan.
The army did not say where the alleged incident took place. However, police set up dozens of checkpoints on all roads leading to the West Bank and stopped and searched cars, causing long traffic jams across central Israel.
Israeli media reported that the army had confined soldiers to their bases and were checking for missing soldiers, but none had been found so far.
The massive security operation highlights Israel’s fears of having more soldiers kidnapped.
Winning the return of Israeli captives — or even their corpses — is a cardinal tenet of the Israeli military, and lopsided prisoner exchanges have been common in the past. Soldiers are trained never to abandon comrades on the battlefield.
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