IDF troops kill top Islamic Jihad militant near Jenin

Undercover Israel Defense Forces troops early Tuesday morning killed a top Islamic Jihad militant in the West Bank city of Jenin.

20-year-old Jihad Nawahda, one of the militant group's top commanders, has been arrested by the Palestinian Authority security forces and released a few months ago.

Palestinian witnesses said the undercover troops shot at Nawahda while he was outside a coffee shop in the village of Yamoun, near the West Bank town of Jenin.

Troops surrounded the coffee shop and shot at the militant when he tried to flee arrest. Security sources said he died on the way to hospital.

An IDF spokeswoman said troops had gone to arrest the militant, who was suspected of plotting to carry out attacks in the Jenin area. The troops opened fire at him as he tried to flee arrest, the spokeswoman said.

IDF soldiers frequently raid militant hideouts in the West Bank, although lethal confrontations have been rare in recent weeks.

In a statement, the Israeli army said troops arrested 22 Palestinian militants in raids in the West Bank overnight.

The strike on the Islamic Jihad militant came just days before a six-month truce between Israel the Gaza Strip was set to reach its Friday expiration.

The agreement with the Hamas-ruled coastal territory does not apply to the West Bank, which is governed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah government.

In response to the killing, Islamic Jihad militants fired three rockets from Gaza into southern Israel. No one was wounded.

"Our rockets will not stop and it will be like the rain over all the Zionist towns around the Gaza Strip," said Abu Hamza, an Islamic Jihad spokesman.