Three parked buses were bombed and burned in the Bat Yam and Holon suburbs of Tel Aviv overnight, Feb. 20-21, though the buses were empty and no one was reportedly hurt as a result. Police said they neutralized two other unexploded devices on buses nearby, reported the Times of Israel. Speaking to reporters in Bat Yam, Haim Sargarof, the Tel Aviv District police chief, said that the devices had timers but they were improvised explosives, and that the attack “looks like something [that originated] in the West Bank.”
The Times of Israel cited a Channel 12 news report, saying that the devices were slated to explode on Feb. 21, Friday morning, when the buses were in use, but were set off early, leading to speculation that the timers may have been set incorrectly. “We may be lucky if indeed the terrorists set these timers to the wrong hour,” police spokesman Aryeh Doron said. “But it’s too early to determine.”
