RAMALLAH, West Bank, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has escaped an assassination attempt, an Israeli daily newspaper reported Sunday.
"Four large explosive devices were uncovered by Abbas' security officers on the road leading from the Erez crossing to Gaza, as the Palestinian president left Ramallah and was about to travel on that route," Yediot Ahronot reported, according to KUNA, the Kuwait News Agency.
Abbas returned to Ramallah and the explosive devices were detonated by members of the Presidential Guard, the newspaper said. KUNA did not say what day the attempt occurred, but said it was last week.
The newspaper said the president was on his was to discuss the establishment of a Palestinian unity government with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh when the assassination attempt occurred, KUNA reported. Those talks have since broken down amid a new round of violence.
The Israeli newspaper quoted Palestinian sources as blaming the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, for the assassination attempt.
