Palestinian caught entering military court with suspected pipe bomb

Security forces arrested a Palestinian man Wednesday who was caught with what appeared to be a small pipe bomb as he entered a West Bank military court, police said in a statement.

Border Police guards and military police stopped the man at the entrance to the Samaria Military Court in the northern West Bank.

The suspected improvised explosive device was concealed in his clothing, police said.

It was the third such incident in the past two months at the same military court.

On December 28 Border Police officers arrested a 16-year-old Palestinian teen who was carrying a pipe bomb as he walked into the court building.

Less than two weeks earlier, police arrested a Palestinian man who tried to enter the same military court with two pipe bombs. Security forces used sappers to defuse the explosives, which were found in the suspect’s coat along with a knife.

Earlier Wednesday an Israeli security guard was lightly wounded when a Palestinian assailant attacked him with a knife at the entrance to a West Bank settlement, officials said. The attacker opened the door to the guard post at the entrance to Karmei Tzur, in Gush Etzion, and stabbed one of the guards in the palm of his hand. A second guard shot the assailant and killed him, according to the Israel Defense Forces.