Israel Palestine
Israeli border police officers stand guard during clashes with Palestinian protesters against the Jewish settlement of Ofra, in the West Bank village of Silwad, near Ramallah. Reuters file photo

Israeli border police forces claim they have prevented a suicide bomber in the northern West Bank.

An unnamed man was allegedly seen walking towards policemen from the Alon battalion of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) at Tapuah Junction wearing a heavy coat, despite searing heat.

When police ordered the man to stop, he lay down in the road and removed his coat to reveal an explosive belt.

The man, in his twenties from the West Bank town of Nablus, admitted that the device was a bomb.

"It is still unclear what the suspect's intentions were," border police commander Shlomi Yosef told Walla news.

"But it is certain that the awareness and professionalism of the forces led to the arrest of the suspect and the seizure of the explosives, which appear to have prevented a serious disaster," he continued.

IDF sources told the Times of Israel that they believed the man was intending to carry out an attack. The target of the attack was unclear.

The man was arrested and taken for interrogation while the junction was closed to traffic following the incident.

Explosives experts arrived at the scene where they neutralised the device.

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