A Palestinian suicide bomber was captured by guards outside the US Embassy in Tel Aviv today after fleeing a nearby cafe where his explosives belt had set off a metal detector, police said.
Uri Bar-Lev, a senior Tel Aviv police officer, told Israel Radio no one was injured in the incident on Tel Aviv's Herbert Samuel Street.
Briefing reporters at the scene later, police officers said the bomber, who they identified as a Palestinian, tried to enter the Tayelet Cafe across from the city's beachfront promenade.
But his explosives belt set off a metal detector at the door, the police officers said. A security man at the cafe challenged him and he ran down the street towards the US embassy about 20 metres away, where guards grabbed him.
Earlier, police said preliminary information showed he had been captured outside the nearby French embassy.
The incident occurred a day after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at an Israeli bus stop on a main road near Tel Aviv, killing an elderly Israeli woman.