Palestinian man indicted on suspicion of assisting with botched bus bombing spree earlier this year

Military prosecutors today indicted a Palestinian man suspected of having helped carry out a botched bus bombing spree in the suburbs of Tel Aviv two months ago, police and Shin Bet spokespeople announce.

The defendant, a resident of Nablus in his 30s, is the brother of the suspected terrorist said to have planted the explosives on three buses in Bat Yam. His brother has not yet been caught by police.

On February 20, three empty buses exploded one after the other in parking lots in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam. The timed devices were apparently supposed to have detonated Friday morning when the buses were in use, but went off early. Giora Eiland, a former IDF operations chief, speculated that the timers were incorrectly set.

According to the indictment submitted today, the suspect helped prepare the bombs used in the failed attack, and helped his brother hide from Israeli authorities after he planted the explosives on buses.

Police say that military prosecutors will indict three more suspects, all residents of Nablus in their 30s, over the next two days. All three are suspected of having helped plan the attack in advance.