A major terrorist attack was averted on Sunday morning when Israeli security guards prevented a Palestinian man from boarding Jerusalem’s light rail while carrying several explosives and knives in his backpack.

Police said two security personnel stationed by the Jaffa Center Station observed the man — said to be in his 20s and from the West Bank town of Beit Ula, near Hebron — behaving suspiciously, Ynet reported. One of the guards, an Arabic-speaking Druze, began questioning the man and asked to examine his bag. After the man resisted, the guard pinned him to the wall and found that he was carrying three pipe bombs and several knives. The guard then forced the man to lie on the ground and called the police.

“The plan was apparently to attack the light rail,” Jerusalem District Police Commander Yoram Halevy told reporters. “It appears that the terrorist planned a mixed attack of explosions and stabbings.”

“At around 9 a.m. I saw security guards holding their guns at some man lying on the floor and then the police rushed over,” said Nir Shuval, who owns a store across the street from the train station. “All the store workers on the street were evacuated by police and we had to wait one hour to go back.”

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat hailed the light rail guards who detained the Palestinian, saying their quick response prevented what would have been a devastating attack.

“This morning, thanks to the vigilance of the Jerusalem Municipality guards of the light rail, a major attack was prevented,” the mayor said in a statement. “The guards stationed at the light rail are part of the fabric of the human shield of Jerusalem against the terrorists who are trying to sow terror and fear. Our message to the public is to continue your routine, remain vigilant and never give in to terrorism.”

Forty people have been killed and over 500 injured since a Palestinian wave of terror began in September, according to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Leading Palestinian officials, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, have been accused of inciting the violence against Israelis. Songs, re-enactments, and graphics that celebrate terrorist attacks often go viral on Palestinian social media. Such attacks have broad support in the Palestinian territories; a poll conducted over the first three months of 2016 found that over 60 percent of Palestinians approve of “armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel.”

[Photo: Hadas Parush / Flash90 ]