A suspected Islamic terrorist accidentally blew himself up in Tel Aviv, Israel on Sunday night while he was transporting a bomb that authorities believe was either meant for a suicide attack or to be placed and remotely detonated.
The incident happened at around 8 p.m. when Israel Police’s emergency hotline was flooded with calls about an explosion that happened.
“It has been confirmed as a bomb explosion,” police said. “As a result of the explosion, one person, whose identity is still unknown, was killed, and another person was moderately injured according to medical sources and was transported to a hospital for treatment.”
Footage from a nearby security camera captured the powerful blast.
WATCH:
Footage from this evening showing the detonation of a bomb in Tel Aviv aimed at carrying out an attack. The suspect was killed in the detonation. pic.twitter.com/Ze4tkrZufM
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) August 18, 2024
Officials released photos of the suspect to the media, a military-aged male who was carrying a large backpack prior to the explosion.
Israeli police also released footage from the area after the explosion that showed the impact from the explosion.
Israeli police published documentation of the site where a suspected car bomb prematurely detonated in Tel Aviv this evening. pic.twitter.com/o21yiFIgSE
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) August 18, 2024
Joe Truzman, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), said that the bomber could have originated out of Judea and Samaria or could have ties to Iran or Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist group based in Lebanon.
“With the news that Hamas rejected the ceasefire proposal, it is possible that either of these actors decided to execute their response to recent Israeli actions,” he said. “There is also the possibility that the suspect was tied to the Islamic State or inspired by other terrorist entities. Think the Jerusalem bombing in 2022 carried out by Islam Faroukh.”
This is the second time in just a week that Islamic terrorists have had a bomb detonate prematurely in Israel.
Earlier tonight a Car Bomb being driven by Two Terrorists towards an Israeli Position suffered a Premature Detonation within the City of Halhul near Hebron in the West Bank, with both Terrorists being Severely Injured in the Explosion. Security Forces from the Palestinian… pic.twitter.com/6UGcHJPFK9
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) August 14, 2024