Israeli troops kill Palestinian in West Bank

NABLUS, West Bank, Nov 3 (Reuters) Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager and critically wounded a wanted Palestinian militant today during an operation near the West Bank town of Nablus, Palestinian doctors said.

Militants from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group, had announced by loudspeaker that one of their members, Ahmed Sanakreh, was killed in the raid, sources in Balata Refugee Camp said earlier.

But doctors at a local hospital said only the body of the militant's 15-year-old brother had arrived at their morgue.

The soldiers shot and wounded Sanakreh near his house as they tried to detain him, sources in the camp had said. Palestinian medical officials had said troops shot and injured his brother as he came out of the house to look for him.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said: ''A force identified a Palestinian trying to place an explosive device near to them and he was shot.'' The spokeswoman said the army was checking the report of the shooting of the youth.

Israeli forces frequently launch arrest raids in the West Bank looking for wanted militants.

REUTERS SY BD2122