2 terrorists caught in Beit Shean factory
Security forces apprehend two terrorists at wood factory in northern town’s industrial zone following three-hour search; it is estimated that the terrorists were set to receive bomb, carry out attack in Israel. High alert level imposed in north lifted following arrest, but large police forces still deployed in area
After a three-hour search Security forces apprehended two terrorists Sunday at a wood factory in the Beit Shean industrial zone; the two were immedaitely taken in for Shin Bet interrogation.
The terrorists were apprehended by Northern District Police Chief Dan Ronen and special police unit forces.
Police officers arrest one of the would-be terrorists (Photo: Hagai Aharon)
According to the security establishment, the terrorists were set to receive a bomb and carry out an attack in Israel.
“Luck was on the side of the good guys,” Ronen said. “We managed to thwart yet another terror attack.
"I arrived at the industrial zone and realized that the terrorists we were looking for were hiding inside the factory. I pulled over near the entrance and asked one of the policemen to join me," he said.
The police will examine the terrorists' vehicle and try to establish who sent them and where they were headed.
The suspects, who were hiding behind wooden platforms, gave themselves up.
The high alert level imposed in the north was lifted following the arrest, but large police forces are still deployed in the area.
Security forces erect checkpoints (Photo: Hagai Aharon)
Due to the high alert level police officers deployed across the region and roadblocks were erected in the entrance to the northern town of Afula and on the main road leading to Beit Shean.
Simultaneously, the IDF tightened security in northern West Bank checkpoints. As a result of the heightened alert, massive traffic jams were registered at the valley region in the north.
Kedumim victims' funerals scheduled for Sunday
The defense establishment currently holds 73 general warnings and nine specific alerts of terror organizations' plans to carry put attacks in Israel.
On Sunday, the victims of Thursday's terror attack , who were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in their car near the settlement of Kedumim, will be laid to rest.
The Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack, but IDF officers estimate the attack was a joint operation of the Fatah and the Popular Front.
An IDF force arrested on Friday the brother of the terrorist who carried out the attack, in the village of el-Bureij south-west of Hebron. The man was transferred for questioning by security forces. Another suspect, whom security forces believe was also involved in orchestrating the attack, was detained near Nablus.
Over the weekend, the IDF apprehended a would-be suicide bomber with a 10-kilogram explosives belt strapped to his body, at the Bekaot roadblock in the Jordan Rift Valley.
