Israel car bomb 'catastrophe' averted

The vehicles' occupants fled into Israel on foot

Israeli police are hunting for two Palestinian men suspected of trying to bring a 600 kilogram (1,350 pound) car bomb into northern Israel.

The device was discovered inside a van that entered Israel from the West Bank.

Police detonated the bomb, one of the largest ever discovered, and Israel's foreign minister said his country had averted a catastrophe that could have changed the face of the Middle East.

Police say the bomb was packed with bits of metal

In Gaza, two attacks have left at least three people dead. An Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian gunman - who was subsequently killed - and another soldier was killed when a bomb exploded under a tank.

Israel is on high alert for a possible new wave of attacks by Palestinian militants during the Jewish New Year holiday which begins on Friday night.

Disaster averted

The car bomb was discovered after civilian volunteers spotted two suspect cars travelling very fast on a winding dirt road leading from the West Bank.

They were heading in the direction of the Israeli town of Hadera, which has been rocked by several suicide bombings and gun attacks in the past two years.

It would have cost such loss of life that it would have changed almost the entire political situation in one moment

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres

Police said the explosives, gas canisters and a mobile phone were attached to the fuel tank of the van and would have been detonated by remote control.

Israeli bomb disposal experts blew up the device safely in a controlled explosion.

Police are now combing the area using tracker dogs and helicopters, in the hunt for two men, who are believed to have fled into Israel.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said the discovery of the bomb was a "miracle".

Had the bomb gone off "it would have cost such loss of life that it would have changed almost the entire political situation in one moment," Mr Peres told the Associated Press news agency.

The bomb's discovery comes after nearly a month in which no Israelis have been killed by Palestinian militants inside Israel.

Hours earlier Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told Israeli television that he saw the possibility of a negotiated peace deal with the Palestinians.

Violence in Gaza

In a separate incident, an Israeli army officer was killed and another soldier slightly injured early on Thursday when a Palestinian gunman opened fire on them in the northern Gaza Strip, an army spokesman said.

Israeli soldiers then rushed to the scene and shot the gunman dead, he added.

Malek Grifat, 24, was named as the dead soldier. The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the shooting.

In the central Gaza Strip a short time later, an Israeli tank rolled over an explosive device near the Maghazi refugee camp. Israeli media said several people were wounded.

One Israeli soldier was killed and at least three others wounded, the military said.

The Popular Resistance Committee, an umbrella group representing several Palestinian factions said it was behind the attack.

In the West Bank, Israeli troops arrested four wanted Palestinians near the city of Nablus, said to be planning a suicide attack to mark the Jewish holiday.