'Suicide bomber' captured on way to Tel Aviv

Israeli troops today captured a Palestinian in the West Bank who was on his way to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, according to the Defence Ministry.

The Israeli action, near the West Bank town of Tulkarem, came a day after violence that left three Palestinians and one Israeli dead.

The attacks included a shooting spree by a Palestinian gunman in the centre of Tel Aviv, outside the Defence Ministry, which wounded 10 people, most of them soldiers.

Israel also published a list of the names of seven ‘‘main terrorists’’ it has demanded the Palestinian Authority arrest. In all, Israel has asked the Palestinians to arrest about 100 suspected militants.

To date, Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority has not staged a crackdown against Palestinian militants, and Israel’s military has carried out targeted killings of Palestinians it believes are responsible for attacks against Israel.

No explosive device was found on the Palestinian who was arrested today, but he was slated to pick one up before heading to Tel Aviv later, said Yarden Vatikay, spokesman for Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer.

The defence minister said that the Palestinian man, who was not named, had been slated to receive an explosive device from an activist in the militant group Hamas who was killed Sunday. Israeli helicopters killed the activist in a missile attack on his car as he drove through Tulkarem.

Sunday’s shooting in Tel Aviv and the planned suicide bombing show that Palestinians are making efforts to strike at Israel’s largest city, Ben-Eliezer said.

‘‘Tel Aviv has turned into a target because there are hundreds of people on every corner,’’ he added.

A suicide bombing at a Tel Aviv disco in June killed 21 young people in the deadliest single attack in the 10 months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

In a West Bank shooting attack last night, gun fire from a parked car hit three vehicles carrying Israelis near a West Bank settlement. A 40-year-old pregnant woman was killed and three others injured, two seriously.

Israeli tanks responded by shelling Palestinian police posts .

A man who Israelis said was placing a bomb near a West Bank settlement was shot and killed yesterday.