A serious tragedy was averted today when a police down patrol discovered an explosive charge at a heavily-used hitch hiking station near Netanya. The policemen summoned experts who defused the charge, which contained some eight kilograms of explosives hidden in a plastic shopping bag. Police described the charge as “exceptionally large” for this type of booby trap.
The hitch hiking station at the Beth Lid crossroads is a main point at which soldiers seek rides to and from neighboring bases. It would have been crowded at the time the charge was set to explode, some 30 minutes after it was discovered at five a.m., as many soldiers were on their way back to their posts after the Rosh Hashanah weekend. The three-day holiday weekend passed quietly throughout the country, with no major incidents reported.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
