Israel kills Palestinian in West Bank clash

JENIN, West Bank, July 4 (Reuters) Israeli soldiers today shot dead a Palestinian they saw him planting an explosive device to ambush soldiers in the West Bank town of Jenin, an Israeli security source said.

The shooting came as Israeli-Palestinian tensions rose over the fate of an Israeli soldier abducted to the Gaza Strip in a cross-border raid by militants last week.

A Palestinian security official said a Palestinian man, 20, was killed and two others were wounded by undercover Israeli troops in the confrontation before dawn in Jenin.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said ''a military force spotted several people placing explosives with intent to harm the soldiers, and opened fire at them.'' The security source said one Palestinian was killed and another wounded.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli forces seized three Palestinians from a police station in the city of Ramallah, suspecting them of involvement in killing a Jewish settler last week, the army said.

The men had been detained by Palestinian police on suspicion of killing 18-year-old Eliyahu Asheri, whose body was found on June 29.

''We arrested three of the murderers,'' said one Israeli military source. ''Forces came to the building of the Palestinian police.

They called on them to come out. After a few hours they did come out. There was no shooting.'' REUTERS CH BST115