Car bomb discovered outside entrance to Israeli town was intended to destroy an Israeli school bus carrying children, security experts say.
By World Israel News Staff
A car bomb found outside of an Israeli town in Samaria Monday morning was part of a terror plot to kill Israeli school children in a bus on their way to school that morning, according to a report by Channel 12.
Citing unnamed security officials, the report revealed details of the foiled bombing attack and subsequent investigation.
Early Monday morning, Israeli security personnel spotted a suspicious vehicle parked outside the entrance to the Israeli town of Ateret – a community of 900 located in the Binyamin district of Samaria, east of Tel Aviv.
At approximately 4:30 a.m., authorities were notified of the suspicious vehicle, prompting police to cordon off the area and dispatch a bomb squad to carefully inspect the car.
During their examination of the vehicle, police sappers found a makeshift explosive device, rigged with nearly 110 pounds (49 kilos) of explosive material in two gas tanks.
The bomb was linked to a camera which apparently allowed the terrorist cell responsible for the bombing plot to remotely detonate the device at the opportune moment.
Police sappers safely removed the explosive device from the vehicle and detonated it in a controlled blast, resulting in no causalities or damage.
Israeli security forces have launched a manhunt for the terrorists involved in the plot.
The attempted bombing came just days after Palestinian terrorists operating in Judea detonated two car bombs in a pair of attacks in the Gush Etzion area south of Jerusalem.
Three Israelis were injured in the two bombings.
Hamas later claimed responsibility for the attacks.
On Sunday, three Israeli police officers were shot and killed in a drive-by shooting attack near the Tarqumiya checkpoint in the Hebron Hills area of Judea.