JERUSALEM, Israel - Israel Defense Forces troops disarmed three Palestinian teenagers at a checkpoint near Nablus (biblical Shechem) on Sunday.
The three young men, attempting to smuggle explosive devices and a knife through the checkpoint, were taken in for questioning.
"The metal detector beeped as one of the Palestinians passed through it," IDF Capt. Eliran Avaim told YNet news.
"He was asked to pass through it again and it beeped once more," he said.
"One of the explosive devices was found inside his pants and the rest were found during a search of his friends' belongings," Capt. Avaim said.
Sunday's was the fifth such incident for soldiers from the Haruv Battalion, who were deployed to the checkpoint a few weeks ago.
"A thousand people cross through this checkpoint everyday so the soldiers must remain alert at all times to seize weapons and protect themselves," the captain said.
Late last week, a senior PA police officer knifed an IDF soldier sitting in his jeep at the traffic light at the Tapuach Junction. The soldier died en route to the hospital, and IDF troops later shot the attacker in Hevron.
PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned the attack on the soldier as harmful to the Palestinian cause.
Osama al-Ghoul, director-general of the PA's Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, said Israel should release Mahmoud Yusef Nimer Hatib, the policeman who killed the soldier.
"Of course [he should be released]. We are fighting the Israeli occupied [sic]. This is our land," al-Ghoul said.
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Source: YNet news