Palestinians caught with pipe bombs near military court
For second time in a month, police catch teenager trying to bring explosives to Nablus-area courthouse
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
Two Palestinians were arrested at a checkpoint near a military court on Wednesday when police discovered one of them was carrying two pipe bombs.
It was the second such incident in two weeks, police said.
The suspects — a teenager and an adult — were caught while attempting to pass through the Sallem checkpoint outside the military court near Nablus, Israel Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.
The pair “aroused the suspicions” of the officers at the crossing and were called to the side for a secondary screening. During that search, border guards found the two explosives hidden on the teenage suspect, police said.
The two suspects were identified as residents of the Jenin refugee camp. They were handed over to security forces for interrogation, police said, referring to the Shin Bet security service.
Israel Police sappers were summoned to the scene and deactivated the bombs.
A similar incident occurred on May 10. Then too a Palestinian teen was found to have concealed pipe bombs on his person at the Sallem crossing.
An initial interrogation found that the suspect, a minor from the Jenin refugee camp in the north of the West Bank, had planned to detonate the bombs inside the courthouse, police said.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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