Troops foil Jerusalem terror attack
Border Guard police officers in roadblock south of Jerusalem detain young Palestinian in possession of two improvised explosive devices; Palestinian says bombs intended for terror attack in capital
The devices included explosives and nails.
Sappers, who were dispatched to the area, detonated the charges in a controlled manner.
The Palestinian, a resident of the village of Abadia near Bethlehem, was detained and taken in for questioning.
In the interrogation, the young man said that he had planned on carrying out a terror attack in Jerusalem, claiming that he wanted to do so because of his "hatred of Jews."
Defense establishment officials told Ynet Saturday morning that the police officers' alertness prevented a great disaster in Jerusalem. The officials added that the young Palestinian apparently acted on his initiative and did not belong to any organization.
The young man purchased the explosive devices and the equipment about two weeks ago, the officials said.
Increase in roadblock incidents
In the past few days there has been an increase in incidents at IDF checkpoints in the West Bank.
On Thursday, 20-year-old Sergeant Nir Kahane was stabbed to death while standing at the Kalandiya roadblock north of Jerusalem. A terrorist, who arrived at the roadblock in the afternoon, pulled out a knife and stabbed Kahane while he was conducting a security check.
On Friday, an IDF soldier thwarted a stabbing attempt on Hebron's worshippers' route. A 17-year-old Palestinian girl arrived at the area and pulled a knife out of her coat in front of the soldiers.
She approached a soldier and tried to stab him, but he pointed his weapon at the girl and overpowered her. There were no injuries in the incident, and the girl was detained and taken into investigation.
Also Friday, a 15-year-old Palestinian was caught at the Hawara checkpoint, south of Nablus, in possession of two pipe bombs. He arrived at the checkpoint wearing a jacket, and aroused the suspicion of paratroopers and soldiers of the Crossings Unit who were manning the checkpoint.
In another incident early Saturday, an IDF navy boat identified two Palestinians swimming from Egypt toward the Gaza Strip. The soldiers ordered the Palestinians to stop. Simultaneously, the boat was fired at from the Gaza Strip shore.
The Palestinians continued to swim toward the shore in the Rafah area. The navy soldiers shot and hit them. IDF officials said that the two were carrying equipment tied to their body, which was suspected to be weapons.
Official Palestinian sources reported that one of the Palestinians was killed by the shooting and the other one was missing.
Hanan Greenberg contributed to the report
