Israel arrests Islamic Jihad suspects over bus attack

Israeli authorities said on Thursday they had arrested four suspected members of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in connection with a bomb attack on a bus in a Tel Aviv suburb last month.

The passengers, alerted to a suspicious bag, evacuated the bus minutes before the bomb went off on Dec. 22. A police explosives expert was lightly wounded in the blast, which was powerful enough to blow out the vehicle's windows. Israel's Shin Bet security agency said in a statement that four Palestinians from the West Bank town of Bethlehem had been arrested - three suspected of preparing the bomb, one of bringing it to the bus.

One of the first three is a member of the Palestinian police force, said the statement, which came after a court lifted a gag order on the case. Ten other people have been arrested for "infrastructure activities", it said without giving details, and the investigation is continuing.