TEL AVIV, Aug 5: New bloodshed in an Israeli city was averted on Monday evening, when a would-be suicide bomber blew himself up prematurely as Palestinian attacks showed no sign of abating following a deadly weekend.

A Palestinian died when his explosive-belt blew up in the car he was travelling in near the Israeli Arab town of Umm el-Fahm, medical sources said.

The driver, an Israeli Arab, was also injured in the blast, which took place on one of the main roads between the West Bank and the Israeli coast.

Israel had been on high alert since Sunday when there were six Palestinian attacks inside Israel and the occupied territories, including a suicide bombing that killed nine, plus the attacker, on a bus in northern Israel.

On Monday, the Israeli army claimed it had smashed a cell of the Hamas in the northern West Bank, arresting the regional leader, 24-year-old Mazen Fukha, together with six other wanted suspects.

Public radio said Fukha was responsible for planning the deadly bus bombing in northern Israel, which Hamas said was revenge for the Israeli air raid on Gaza City last month that killed its military chief and 14 others, nine of them children.

Just as the latest bomb went off, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was holding talks with Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer and Chief of Staff Moshe Yahalon. There were no immediate reports of any decision to retaliate against Palestinian groups involved in the latest attacks, which left 14 people dead and more than 80 wounded on Sunday alone.—AFP