Palestinian who shot at Israeli troops killed by army fire: military

According to the army, the man was carrying a weapon and was shot dead during a search by soldiers for arms caches

JERUSALEM: A Palestinian who fired at Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday was shot dead by the soldiers, the Israeli army said.

"Forces encountered an armed Palestinian who opened fire," an English-language statement on the military's official Twitter account said. "In response to the immediate threat, forces fired towards the suspect."


An initial army statement had said only that the man was carrying a weapon, was seen as a threat and was shot dead during a search by soldiers for arms caches in the flashpoint city.

The army released a picture of what it said was the man's weapon, which appeared to be an improvised machine pistol.

A wave of unrest that broke out in October 2015 has claimed the lives of 274 Palestinians, 42 Israelis, two Americans, two Jordanians, an Eritrean, a Sudanese and a Briton, according to an AFP tally.


Israeli authorities say most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks.

Earlier Wednesday Israeli police said security forces at a checkpoint on the edge of the West Bank city of Bethlehem stopped a Palestinian woman found to be carrying a knife.


In a statement on his official Twitter account, police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld described the woman, 36, as "a terrorist" intending to carry out an attack on an Israeli.