Israeli border police on Friday apprehended a man they believed was on his way to a suicide attack.

The police, near the Tapuach Junction in Samaria, noticed a man, believed to be in his twenties wearing a heavy coat in 95 degree heat. Israel Hayom reports that initially the suspect refused to stop:

The man, a Nablus resident in his 20s, refused at first, but ultimately confessed to carrying explosives. The suspect was subdued and taken to Shin Bet security agency facilities for interrogation.

According to experts, the device was made up of 12 pipe bombs strung together. The sappers also confiscated a mobile phone suspected to have been programmed to trigger the explosives.

According to the publication, it was initially believed that the man’s target were security forces in the area, possibly the police who arrested him.

The Times of Israel reported that the successful apprehension of the would-be terrorist with no injuries drew the praise of Public Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch:

“Your vigilance and professionalism led to the capture of a terrorist with an explosive belt,” Aharonovitch told the policemen in a phone conversation shortly after the Friday morning incident.

“You prevented an attack and saved lives, and I’m proud of you and your professional excellence,” he said.

The Times of Israel also reported that though security sources now believe that the suspect was acting on his own, they are still searching for three men who transported him to the intersection.

The unity deal between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party and the terrorist group Hamas raised questions about Abbas’s commitment to security cooperation with Israel. The deal between the two Palestinian factions also raises concerns about the growing influence of Hamas in the West Bank—a concern surely to be heightened with the attempted suicide bombing.

[Photo: Israel Defense Forces / Flickr ]