Palestinian militants are distributing leaflets with step-by-step recipes for homemade explosives — but some flyers may be Israeli fakes meant to trick would-be terrorists into blowing themselves up.

Commandos found the Palestinian leaflets in recent raids in West Bank cities and refugee camps, the military said. The guidelines even tell which pharmacies and stores to visit to get ingredients.

Israel won't confirm Palestinian charges that they're fighting back by teaching how to make a witch's brew that is booby-trapped — but intelligence sources say it wouldn't be the first time.

"In the past, usually through collaborators, intelligence has distributed material that gives instructions on how to make a bomb, with the correct instructions changed — a little less here and there, so that it will detonate in the hands of the makers," a source said.

Recent Israeli raids have targeted the people responsible for making suicide bomb belts and other explosives, increasing the need for the do-it-yourself instructions.

The leaflets were found during Operation Defensive Shield's sweep of the West Bank. Instructions also are easily found on Arab TV and on the Internet.

"Making bombs has almost become common knowledge," the Israeli intelligence source told the Daily News.

"[But] there have been many cases where an explosive detonated in the hands of the person trying to assemble it."

http://www.nydailynews.com/2002-05-30/News_and_Views/Beyond_the_City/a-152570.asp