Israel foils Al Qaeda's plan to blow up US Embassy in Tel Aviv

Israel has reportedly said that it has foiled an 'advanced' Al Qaeda plan to carry out suicide bombing on the US Embassy in Tel Aviv and other targets.

Analysts have pointed that it is the first time the global terror network's leadership has been directly involved in plotting an attack inside Israel.

According to Politico, the Shin Bet intelligence agency said that it had arrested three Palestinians who allegedly plotted bombings, shootings, kidnappings and other attacks.

The Israeli intelligence agency said that the Palestinian men, two from Jerusalem and one from the West Bank, were recruited by an operative based in the Gaza Strip who worked for Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri.

Meanwhile, the State Department said the US was not yet able to corroborate the Israeli claims.

The agency further said that the Palestinians had planned on attacking a Jerusalem conference center with firearms and then kill rescue workers with a truck bomb, apart from Al Qaeda's plan to send foreign militants to attack the American Embassy on the same day using explosives supplied by the Palestinians.

A former head of the Israeli military intelligence unit that tracks Al Qaeda, Aviv Oreg, said that the plot marked the first time it has been directly linked to an attempted attack in Israel.

The report said that last year, a threat that began with a message from the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to al-Zawahri led to the closures of embassies across the Middle East and Africa.