Argentine Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas on Tuesday asked Interpol to arrest four Lebanese citizens for questioning regarding their role in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.
The AMIA suicide bombing took place on July 18, 1994, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, targeting the large Jewish community center Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (Argentine Israelite Mutual Association). A Renault Trafic van loaded with 275 kilograms of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and fuel oil explosive mixture was driven into the AMIA building and was detonated, killing 85 people and injuring over 300. The bombing was and still is the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentine history.
On October 25, 2006, Argentine prosecutors Alberto Nisman and Marcelo Martínez Burgos formally charged the Iranian government with directing the bombing through its proxy, Hezbollah.
Judge Rafecas requested that Interpol capture the four individuals so they could be compelled to testify in the ongoing case: “Regarding these individuals, there are well-founded suspicions that they are collaborators or operational agents of the … armed wing of Hezbollah,” Rafecas wrote in a resolution dated June 13 that the Associated Press obtained on Thursday.
According to the Mail Online, the four suspects are living in the tri-border region that connects Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, which is a haven for terrorists and operations to finance terrorism. One of the suspects is Salman Raouf Salman, a senior member of Hezbollah reported to be living in Paraguay.
Judge Rafecas also requested the arrest of Hussein Mounir Mouzannar, who resides in Paraguay or Brazil, Farouk Abdul Hay Omairi, a naturalized Brazilian citizen, and Ali Hussein Abdallah who holds Brazilian and Paraguayan passports.
Shortly after the AMIA attack, Ansar Allah, which was a front for Hezbollah, claimed responsibility for the attack in leaflets that were distributed in Sidon, Lebanon, and the Hezbollah newspaper An-Nahar.
