Israeli security forces thwarted a suicide bombing in Israel when they captured a Palestinian in southern Israel wearing an explosive belt, the army said yesterday.

The man had infiltrated into Israel from northern Gaza and belonged to al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group that is part of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, the army said in a statement.

A senior al-Aqsa leader denied any connection with the man. The army said he had told forces he had planned to detonate his bomb in Tel Aviv. Military sappers blew up the bomb belt in a controlled explosion.

Israeli forces seized him late on Friday outside the gates of the Nir Am kibbutz, not far from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's ranch where he met US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier in the day.

The bombing attempt coincided with Rice's visit to the region to safeguard Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan after a flare-up of violence that has threatened to unravel a five-month-old truce.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the failed attack. Rice was at her Jerusalem hotel at the time.

The militant group Islamic Jihad carried out a suicide bombing last week that killed five Israelis in the coastal town of Netanya, the first such attack inside the Jewish state since February.

Islamic Jihad said it was avenging Israel's killing of its militants.