4 Palestinians dead in West Bank

RAMALLAH: Israeli troops shot dead three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said, before a suspected car-ramming attacker was killed after seriously wounding a woman, Israeli medics and the army said.

The army confirmed its troops had fired on “rioters” who attacked soldiers in two separate West Bank clashes overnight. The 20-year-old woman was in “severe condition” with a head injury following the suspected car-ramming north of Jerusalem, medics said. Jerusalem’s Shaare Tzedek hospital confirmed the alleged attacker had been killed.

In Kafr Ein, near Ramallah, two brothers were killed by Israeli fire, the Palestinian health ministry said.

A third man died of bullet wounds to the head fired by Israeli troops in Beit Ummar, near the flashpoint city of Hebron, the ministry said.

Commenting on the Beit Ummar clash, the Israeli army said it had opened fire on “rioters” who “hurled rocks and improvised explosive devices at the soldiers” after two vehicles got stuck during an “operation patrol” in the area.

The Israeli army said “a violent riot was instigated by a number of suspects,” during “routine” overnight activity in the Kafr Ein area.