Blast Hits Apparent Bomb Factory in Hebron, Palestinian Official Says

A car bomb exploded Sunday at a shop in a Palestinian-controlled area of this city, wrecking a suspected bomb factory, a Palestinian official said.

Reporters allowed inside saw toy tractors and trucks outfitted with wiring, as well as remote-control units. Police removed barrels of chemicals from the scene.

The Palestinian deputy governor of Hebron, Auni Natsche, said the shop housed a bomb factory. No one was hurt; the shop was empty at the time of the explosion.

A Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the explosion was caused by a car bomb that was being prepared inside the shop and apparently was to have been detonated by remote control. Officials did not say what caused the bomb to detonate.

The Palestinian police arrested two suspects and were searching for others, Natsche said. Officials did not release any other information on the suspects.

The shop is in a building belonging to a family of activists of the Islamic Hamas group. The building had recently been remodeled, but residents said it was never open for any kind of business.

Islamic militants have run bomb-building factories in the area, and bombs have exploded prematurely. Hamas leaders have vowed in recent weeks to resuscitate a bombing campaign to scuttle the revived Israeli-Palestinian peace process.