IDF kills Palestinian fire-bomber in West Bank

Israel Defense Forces soldiers shot dead a Palestinian who was hurling firebombs at their vehicles as they drove past a northern West Bank village on Wednesday.

The soldiers wounded another Palestinian suspected of taking part in the aggression.

Two IDF vehicles caught fire when the firebombs hit them, a military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said.

The two Palestinians ran away after throwing the firebombs, but the soldiers pursued them and then shot them "during an arrest procedure," she said.

The spokeswoman added that the incident, which occurred near the settlement of Halamish north-west of Ramallah, was being investigated by the military.

A Palestinian paramedic said Fayez Atta, 17, from a village near the West Bank town of Ramallah, had died of gunshot wounds and another youth had been taken to an Israeli hospital in a serious condition.

The military said there were no Israeli casualties.

Atta was the first Palestinian youth killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank during the last month.

Most of the recent Israeli-Palestinian violence has taken place along Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, where more than 1,300 Palestinians and 14 Israelis died in a 22-day Israeli offensive launched in December against Islamist Hamas militants.