Police say would-be bomber arrested near U.S. Embassy in Israel

TEL AVIV, Israel -- U.S. Embassy security guards overpowered a would-be suicide bomber who had tried to enter a crowded cafe nearby on the Tel Aviv beachfront on Friday, police said.

Shlomit Herzberg, chief spokeswoman for police in Tel Aviv, said a security guard stopped the man as he tried to enter the Hatayelet cafe on the beachfront promenade about 20 yards from the U.S. Embassy.

"When he found the explosive vest, the man ran away and the guard chased him while calling for help from security personnel of the American Embassy," she said.

Embassy guards overpowered the man and called police. She said a bomb squad removed the vest and it was being "neutralized."

There were no immediate reports of injury and police said they did not know of any other people involved in the attack.

The suspect, whose identity was not immediately available, was detained.

Cafe guard Mikhail Sarkisov, a 30-year-old former soldier and policeman who had emigrated from Turkmenistan 13 months ago, said about 35 people were in the cafe when the man walked up.

"He tried to come in and I checked him with a metal detector and he beeped," Sarkisov said. "He put his hand in his pocket. I know what a bomb is. I was an officer in the Russian army."

Sarkisov said he grabbed at the attacker's hand and the man ran off toward the U.S. Embassy, a prominent three-story building on a beachfront lined with bars, restaurants and high-rise hotels.

"I yelled, 'Terrorist!' and ran after him," he said.

Sarkisov said that embassy guards -- who include both Israelis and Americans -- joined the chase and they caught the man just past the embassy.

The incident occurred a day after a suicide bomber killed a 71-year-old woman and injured four other people at a bus stop near Tel Aviv.