Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian youth on Tuesday in a confrontation in the West Bank town of Nablus, medics said. The Israeli army said its troops had opened fire on Palestinians suspected of planning to plant an explosive to ambush troops on a mountain road on the outskirts of the Palestinian city.

It was the first lethal incident in the occupied territory in nearly a week, after a lull in a wave of violence in which Israel killed 17 Palestinians, most of them militants, in raids after a suicide bomb attack on October 26 that killed six Israelis. Medics and witnesses said soldiers opened fire on Palestinians who threw an explosive device, critically wounding two youths. A 15-year-old later died of bullet wounds in the head and neck, medics said.

Copyright Reuters, 2005