Israeli troops kill two Palestinian gunmen, suspected shooter, in West Bank

Two Palestinian gunmen were killed and five Israeli soldiers were wounded in occupied West Bank clashes on Thursday and Israeli troops killed the suspect in a later shooting attack on Israeli motorists.

The military said the two gunmen in the first incident fired shots from a car at an Israeli vehicle near the town of Tulkarm. It said a pursuit and gunfight ensued, and soldiers killed the two men before recovering an assault rifle from their car.

The Islamist militant group Hamas claimed the slain Palestinians, aged 23 and 27, as its members.

Hamas and another armed faction, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said they had inflicted Israeli casualties in gun and bomb ambushes in a separate clash within Tulkarm.

The army said five Israeli soldiers were wounded in that incident, as they detained a Palestinian militant. Islamic Jihad said one of its members was in Israeli custody.

Hours later, a suspected Palestinian gunman shot at an Israeli vehicle driving through the village of Huwara, emergency services said. There were no casualties in the incident, footage of which soon circulated on social media.

The video, which could not immediately be verified by Reuters, shows a man opening fire at the back of a car standing in traffic before the vehicle swerves over to the opposite lane and the man runs after it while appearing to fire more shots.

The military said it tracked the suspect down and “neutralised” him in an exchange of fire. The Palestinian Health Ministry said he was killed by the Israeli forces.

The West Bank, among the territories where Palestinians seek statehood, has experienced a surge of violence in recent months amid an almost decade-old impasse in U.S.-sponsored peacemaking.

Source » reuters.com