The Israel Defense Forces shot and killed a Palestinian youth and wounded another late Monday near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

The army said it identified two Palestinian gunmen, one carrying a weapon and the other a firebomb, near the village of Abud, near Ramallah, and fired in their direction, hitting one of the men.

Palestinian police confirmed the two were throwing firebombs, They identified the dead man as Mohammed al-Barghouti, 17. His companion, Hatem Barghouti, was wounded, 20, Palestinian police said.

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IDF forces carry out frequent patrols in the West Bank and often open fire on Palestinians confronting them with guns, rocks or firebombs.

Earlier Wednesday, IDF soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man in a gunbattle in the West Bank that broke out during a search for wanted militants, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.

An IDF spokeswoman said the man, 22-year-old Fadi Abu Kishek was a gunman but Palestinian security sources said he was not armed.

"The soldiers spotted a gunman opening fire at them and shot at him, hitting him," the spokeswoman said.

Palestinian hospital personnel said the soldiers shot the 22-year-old man while exchanging fire with gunmen from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction in the Askar refugee camp near the city of Nablus.

The IDF had launched a raid in the area before dawn and arrested six wanted militants, the Palestinian security sources said.