The explosives were detonated at a checkpoint Israeli security forces are on a heightened state of alert after an explosion in a taxi killed a man and injured five other people. The explosives were detonated inside the minibus at a checkpoint near the Arab town of of Umm el-Fahem in northern Israel. The man who died was an Israeli.
Paramedics say three of the injured are in a serious condition.
Police had been chasing the taxi from Tel Aviv, where one or more of the militants are believed to have boarded the vehicle carrying the explosives. The security services are now searching for a bomb in Tel Aviv after one of the suspects, who was seriously injured in the explosion, is reported to have confessed to planting other devices. Israeli police believe the attack may be linked to a failed bomb attempt in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, where they found a suitcase bomb and carried out a controlled explosion. A Palestinian militant group calling itself the Battalions of Return has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for Israeli shelling of Palestinian villages. Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh said Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was to blame, for refusing to act against militant groups.