Israeli troops kill Palestinian boy in Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM, West Bank, Sep 12 (Reuters) Israeli troops today shot and killed a Palestinian teenager in Bethlehem as they confronted protesters during a raid to arrest a wanted militant in the West Bank city, medics and witnesses said.

The violence erupted when troops surrounded a house where they later arrested a militant of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a group linked to the mainstream Fatah faction, witnesses and Israeli military sources said.

The soldiers opened fire after protesters at the site near Manger Square, the site of Jesus's birth in Bethlehem, threw stones, firebombs and grenades, injuring two of the troops, a military spokesman said.

Medics said a 14-year-old boy died after being shot in the chest and that five other people were wounded.

The incident came hours after an Israeli soldier was killed in the Gaza Strip by gunmen who ambushed the troops during a raid against militants.

More than 210 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, have been killed in Israeli operations against gunmen in Gaza and the West Bank since Israel intensified its raids after the capture of a soldier near the Gaza border on June 25.

Reuters PKS DB2237