Alert soldiers Monday night foiled a massive bomb attack on Israelis by discovering a huge bomb that terrorists were smuggling across the Egyptian border.

Bombs and weapons smuggled into the mostly barren southwestern Negev can easily be carried by terrorists to urban targets, with the city of Be’er Sheva being the closest.

The IDF said soldiers spotted the smuggling in progress and that during an attempt to arrest the terrorists, one of them threw a package, which was not found in the dark. Soldiers and police found it in the morning and discovered that it was a huge bomb that, if exploded in an urban area, could have caused mass casualties.

Sappers neutralized and detonated the bomb, and no one was injured. The IDF did not report any arrests, and the terrorists apparently escaped into Egypt.

“This additional incident again exposes the smuggling route on the western border that is exploited by terrorist organizations against Israeli civilians and soldiers,” military spokesmen said.

The IDF recently has beefed up patrols along the border and have added new unit to patrol in the southern Negev and Arava.

The government has ordered a speed-up ion construction of a fence that officials hope will significantly reduce smuggling of terrorists and weapons as well as drugs and African infiltrators seeking work in Israel.