Monday's undercover Border Police operation in Tul Karm, in which a 23-year-old Palestinian civilian was killed, thwarted an imminent suicide bombing, according security sources.

According to security sources, the objective of the operation was to arrest Anan Kamal Afif Yaish, a senior Tanzim militant in Tul Karm who was planning a suicide bombing in Israel in the immediate future.

Yaish was moderately wounded and brought to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva for treatment.

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Security forces were informed of the plot by Amar Sami Muhammad Suliman, the 18-year-old designated to be the bomber in the intended attack, the sources said. Suliman was arrested November 23.

Yaish and the deceased, Mahmoud El-Al, attempted to flee a Tul Karm cafe after Border Police forces surrounded the building. El-Al was apparently not involved in terrorist activity.

"The Border Policemen called on the men to stop and fired into the air," said the sources. "When they did not comply, the forces fired at the two, wounding them."

According to the sources, a handgun was found on Yaish.

A 16-year-old was also wounded in the operation and is listed in moderate condition.

The diplomatic-security cabinet on Sunday ruled that arrests in the West Bank could only be made with approval from either GOC Central Command Yair Naveh or West Bank commanders with the rank of brigadier general.

Also Monday, the security forces arrested the Bethlehem-area head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Mahmud Ibrahim Hamdan Fanun.

The 59-year-old Fanun was deported to Jordan in 1986 for his involvement in terror activity and returned to the West Bank in 1996, according to security sources. The sources said Fanun has been wanted by security forces since 2001.

"In the past few years Mahmud Fanun was head of the PFLP terror organization in the Bethlehem area and was involved in terror activity such as providing weaponry to the organizations infrastructure and assisting wanted terrorist to hide from Israeli security forces," said the sources.

According to the sources, Fanun held a number of senior positions in the organization: He was a member of the organization's head committee in the West Bank, and a candidate on behalf of the organization in the parliamentary elections in the Palestinian authority.

On Monday morning, troops arrested 15 wanted militants in raids across the West Bank.

Earlier Monday, an Israeli truck driver was stabbed and his truck stolen in the course of a robbery in the West Bank village of Kfar Biddya.

The driver was wounded in the stomach and paramedics treated him at the scene. He was then transferred to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva for further care.

The stolen truck was recovered later in the West Bank city of Qalqilyah.

Intelligence services are searching for more information on the assailants.