Four IDF soldiers were wounded when shots were fired at an IDF patrol at the Hadas junction north of the settlement of Eshkolot in the Southern Hebron hills Thursday night.

According to the army, two soldiers were moderately wounded, while the other two sustained light wounds.

The Fatah´s al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.

The wounded soldiers were evacuated to the Soroka Medical Center in Be´ersheba.

Security forces were dispatched to the site to search for the perpetrators. IDF sources said they believed that the Palestinians set up an ambush at the side of the road, waited for the patrol, opened fire and then fled the area.

Officials, however, did not rule out the possibility that the gunmen opened fire at the patrol from a passing car.

Earlier, a Palestinian militant threw hand grenades and shot at an IDF vehicle traveling on a Gaza Strip road, lightly wounding two soldiers before the soldiers returned fire and killed the attacker, military officials said.

On Thursday afternoon, soldiers manning the Hawara checkpoint outside of Nablus arrested a 15-year-old Palestinian youth, identified as Mahmoud Tabouk, who tried to smuggle an explosive belt in his bag.

A home made weapon was also found in his bag, in addition to 20 bullets.

Sappers dispatched to the site performed a controlled detonation of the charge.

Speaking with Army Radio, Nablus Division commander, Colonel Yuval Bazak, said, "The youth raised the suspicion of one of the soldiers. During a search of his belongings, a ready to be used bomb-belt was discovered."

In another incident near the West Bank settlement of Avnei Hefetz, policemen on Thursday apprehended two Palestinians who were found to be carrying weapon magazines and grenades.

Several boy-bombers have been apprehended at the Hawara checkpoint last year.

At the end of March, the quick thinking of paratroopers at the checkpoint prevented Husam Abdu, 14, who was wearing a belt of explosives, from blowing himself up.

The belt contained eight kilograms of explosives, plus bolts and screws. It was later blown up by sappers.

Ten days earlier, Fatah Tanzim in Nablus sent Abdullah Kuran, 11, to the checkpoint with explosives stashed in several bags. He was supposed to pass through checkpoint and hand them to a woman waiting on the other side for NIS 5.

Unaware that one of the bags contained a 10-kilo bomb, he was stopped by soldiers who discovered it during a routine inspection.

When Kuran´s dispatchers saw he had been stopped, they attempted to detonate the bomb by cellphone, but failed.

Meanwhile, Jerusalem police on Thursday evening lifted the high security alert which was issued earlier Thursday in response to intelligence warnings of a planned terrorist attack, Army Radio reported. With AP (© 1995-2005, The Jerusalem Post 02/04/05)