Islamic militants arrested in Passover bomb plot

Israeli agents have arrested a ring of Islamic militants who planned to set off a massive car bomb in Tel Aviv over the Passover Jewish holiday, ending a five-month ceasefire.

A statement by the Shin Bet security agency said it arrested 19 members of a Hamas splinter group from the West Bank town of Qalqiliya connected with the plot, in which a potential suicide bomber drove a car laden with 100kg of explosive into Tel Aviv but did not detonate the charge.

The arrests took place in late March, but details were only cleared for publication today, the day after the week-long holiday ended.

Security officials said the Palestinian driver was able to enter Tel Aviv unhindered as he has an Israeli Arab stepmother and holds an Israeli identity card and was driving a car with Israeli licence plates.

The statement said that for reasons not yet clear, the man turned around and returned to Qalqiliya, where the car later blew up through a technical malfunction. Nobody was injured.

Israeli Newspaper Haaretz said the attempt was ordered by Hamas renegades in the Gaza strip, unhappy with their movement's November ceasefire with Israel and its acceptance of the more moderate Fatah movement into a coalition government.