The Israeli police arrested on Tuesday ten Palestinian residents, including a potential suicide bomber, after finding a bag filled with explosives in his possession; police source said that the explosive were meant for an attack in the center of the country.
Israeli online daily Haaretz reported that the police chased a van carrying 5 kilograms of explosives and managed to stop it close to Kibbutz Sha’alabim, near Latrun, a rural area midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
The ten Palestinians who were in the vehicle were arrested and taken for interrogation, one of them, according to the Israeli police, is the prospective bomber.
Haaretz added that the Israeli security was tipped and knew in advance the licence plate number of the GMC van carrying the ten Palestinians.
“Security forces knew the make, model, and color of the car”, Detective Shahar Hemo told Haaretz, “They were informed that there is a very, very, very high probability that it was tied to an imminent bombing”.
Also, Jerusalem district police spokesman, Shmuel Ben-Ruby, stated that the men in the vehicle intended to plant a bomb in central Israel.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli police was intensively deployed throughout Jerusalem, installed roadblocks and detained dozens of Palestinian residents who were present in the area.
