Israeli security forces increased deployment in northern Israel amid warnings of specific terror attacks, local Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Sunday.

The police has raised their alert level in the northern area Sunday morning and deployed across the region after security forces seized two suspected terrorists in the industrial zone of Beit Shean, a northern Israeli town.

Roadblocks have been erected on the main road to the northern towns of Afula and Beit Shean while rescue services have also reinforced their presence in the area, the report said.

Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has also tightened security at northern West Bank checkpoints for fear of possible security threats.

The IDF has received 73 general warnings and nine specific alerts that Palestinian militant groups are planning to carry put attacks in Israel.

Following a suicide bombing last Thursday night at the entrance to the settlement of Kedumim, which killed three Israelis, Israeli army has been pounding the northern Gaza Strip with a massive artillery, air and naval attack for the past two days, targeting Qassam launching sites.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent armed wing of the Fatah movement, has claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack.

Israeli security forces arrested on Friday the brother of the suicide bomber in the village of el-Bureij southwest of Hebron. The man was transferred for questioning by security forces, said the report.

Over the weekend, the IDF also arrested a would-be suicide bomber with a 10-kilogram explosive belt strapped to his body at a roadblock in the Jordan Rift Valley.

The army's alert of terror attacks came as President Moshe Katsav opened talks with leaders of five parties emerged after Tuesday's general elections on forming a coalition on Sunday.

Source: Xinhua