Israeli police were reportedly hunting for a bomb in Tel Aviv Thursday after a man injured in a deadly taxi explosion in the north of the country confessed to planting other devices, police said, quoted by AFP.
Police sources said the man, whose legs were blown off when explosives he was carrying in a service taxi went off near the Arab town of Umm el-Fahem, had claimed responsibility for planting a bomb discovered in Tel Aviv Wednesday, and had laid another in the same city.
The Israeli media reported a massive search in Tel Aviv, but had no mentioning of the reported confession. A source ruled out that the suspect was able to say anything in his condition.
One person was killed and nine others injured in Thursday's blast.
The dead is believed to be one of the suspected attackers, while most of the injured were “innocent civilians,” Alik Ron, the chief of the police in northern Israel told the army radio.
An injured woman who was in the taxi told police that the man was an Arab and he used his mobile phone frequently during the ride.
The taxi car exploded in Mei Ami junction, just before Umm el Fahem main junction. The chief of the border guard in northern Israel told the radio that the police had previous information regarding attempt of Palestinians to bring this car into one of the cities in the heart of Israel.
“It seems that the people inside the car operated the bomb when they realized they were trapped,” he said.
In a statement to the army radio, Deputy Defense Minister Efraim Sneh said the act indicated the escalating violence inside the Green Line. Earlier he told the Israel Radio that based on the nature of the act and the location it seems Hamas or Islamic Jihad stand behind the incident – Albawaba.com
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