Six dead in West Bank explosion

Jewish worshippers praying near the Western Wall take cover from stones thrown from the adjacent Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Sunday

NABLUS, West Bank (CNN) -- An explosion in the West Bank has claimed the lives of six Palestinians.

It happened on Monday in Farah, a refugee village near the town of Nablus, but precise circumstances surrounding the incident are unclear.

Palestinian officials identified the men as members of Fatah's al-Aqsa brigade.

The Israeli Army has so far made no comment on the incident.

The explosion follows a day of unrest in Jerusalem at the disputed holy site known to Israelis as Temple Mount -- and to Palestinians as the noble sanctuary -- that left at least 15 Israeli police injured and some 10 Palestinians hurt.

Hundreds of Palestinians threw rocks at several hundred Jews, who were praying at the Western Wall, the outer wall of the compound.

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Police stormed the area, escorted the Jews to safety, and confronted the stone-throwers.

The violence followed an attempt by a small group of extreme nationalist Jews to march on the mosque compound that was blocked by police.

The Jewish group, the "Temple Mount Faithful," wanted to plant a cornerstone for a future Jewish temple on the compound, which the Palestinians viewed as a provocative act.

Israel banned the cornerstone laying but allowed a prayer service to take place nearby after Muslims warned the original plan could inflame tensions.

Before the clashes with Muslims, police had prevented the Temple Mount Faithful from disobeying the court order banning the cornerstone ceremony.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction had called for a "day of rage" and urged Palestinians to gather on Sunday at the holy site to prevent any attempt to carry out the stone-laying ceremony.

Fatah urged Palestinians to rally after noon prayers on Sunday and called on "to protect the holy city and the holy sites ... from desecration."

At least 1,000 Muslims were at the mosque compound answering the call when police stormed the complex.

In the Jewish calendar Sunday is a day of fasting to commemorate the biblical destruction of the first and second temples at the site.

The violence comes nearly 10 months after Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, then an opposition leader, visited the same site, prompting protests from Palestinians who called Sharon's visit a provocation. The sovereignty of the religious site is a central issue in the peace process.

Sunday's confrontation did not escalate to the level in late September 2000, after Sharon's visit. At least four people died and as many as 200 were wounded when Israeli police clashed with Palestinian Muslims coming out of prayers. The incident sparked renewed violence in the region in which more than 600 people have died, the majority of them Palestinians.