IDF finds dozens of pipe bombs in West Bank village

IDF soldiers uncovered dozens of pipe bombs in an underground hideout during a routine operation over the weekend in the West Bank Palestinian village of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, the army announced on Saturday.

According to the IDF, the pipes themselves were empty but the explosives intended to fill them were located nearby as well. A handgun was also found in the area. Police confiscated the pipe bombs and gun and transferred them to a nearby security facility for further inspection, the Ynet news site reported.

Earlier Saturday, an 18-year-old Palestinian woman was arrested in Hebron after pulling out a knife in a suspected attempt to carry out a stabbing attack. Members of the Israel Police and Border Police stationed at the entrance to the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the city were carrying out a routine security check when one of them noticed that the woman was gripping a knife in her hand. The officers drew their weapons, disarmed and arrested the woman. She was taken away for questioning.

The suspected stabbing attempt was the latest in a series of Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets that have claimed more than 20 lives and wounded hundreds of others in recent months.

On Friday, three IDF soldiers were wounded in two separate attacks in the West Bank.

Two soldiers were lightly hurt when a Palestinian driver plowed his car into them north of Ramallah. The driver was shot and killed at the scene of the incident, near the village of Silwad. Channel 10 television named the terrorist as 21-year-old Silwad resident Anes Hamad.

A short time earlier, a soldier was lightly injured in a stabbing attack near the Palestinian village of Abud, northwest of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The suspected Palestinian attacker was shot dead at the scene of the incident, the IDF said in a statement. He was later identified as Abdel Rahman Barghouti, 26, a Palestinian resident of Abud.