Oct. 29, 2006 17:50 | Updated Oct. 29, 2006 23:07
5 terror suspects caught in Wadi Ara
By REBECCA ANNA STOIL
A suspected terror plot was foiled on Sunday when police and security forces arrested five suspected terrorists who had infiltrated the Wadi Ara region, and the high alert, which had been declared earlier in the day, was lowered.

Police discovered a car laden with explosives and sappers safely detonated the device.

Isreal Radio reported that four of those arrested were Palestinians and the other was an Israeli Arab.

In the early afternoon, security forces received concrete information that a would-be terrorist had arrived in the sensitive Wadi Ara area en route to carrying out a terror attack.

Wadi Ara, a narrow valley through which a main east-west road runs, is an area mostly compromised of Israeli Arab towns, and backs on to the Menahse region of Samaria. Its proximity to the West Bank and demographic make-up create a situation in which it is relatively easy for a terrorist to infiltrate and disappear into the surroundings.

Immediately after receiving the warning, police beefed up their forces all along the northern reaches of the Green Line, setting up checkpoints and even "hermetically" closing off key roadways.

Route 65 - the Wadi Ara road - was closed at one point in both directions, across a dozens-of-kilometer-long stretch between Caesarea and Megiddo Junctions.

Hours later, police re-opened the eastbound lanes, but maintained a full closure on the westbound lanes, also closing the approaches to the Cross-Israel Highway which intersects the route just east of Hadera.

Northern District Cmdr. Dan Ronen opened a temporary operations control center based in the Iron Police Station, a former British Taggart fortress overlooking the sensitive highway. Umm el-Fahm, the largest of the cities in the Wadi Ara area was sealed off at all of its entrances and exits.

Security sources said that the initial alert was unclear as to whether the man entered Israel with a bomb or whether he was meant to be given a bomb immediately before carrying out the attack.