Palestinian teens shot dead after firing on Israeli soldiers

Two 15-year-old Palestinians fired on Israeli soldiers before being shot dead in the northern occupied West Bank Sunday, Israel's army said, while a Palestinian teenager was killed after a separate attempted attack.

The incidents were the latest in a wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming assaults that erupted in October.

They came as US ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power visited Israel and the Palestinian territories for talks with leaders from both sides.

In the first incident, an army statement said the two teenagers attacked an Israeli patrol west of the city of Jenin with rocks before firing on soldiers with a rifle.

"The force responded to the shooting and fired towards the attackers, resulting in their deaths," it said.

The Palestinian health ministry named those killed as Nihad Waked and Fuad Waked, both 15 years old. They were not thought to be closely related.

Later in the day, a Palestinian attempted to stab Israeli border police between Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank before being shot dead, Israeli authorities said.

The Palestinian health ministry identified the assailant as Naim Safi, 17 and from a village near Bethlehem.

Since the current round of bloodshed erupted at the beginning of October, 170 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces. Most were carrying out attacks but others died during clashes and demonstrations.

The violence has claimed the lives of 26 Israelis, as well as an American, a Sudanese and an Eritrean, according to an AFP count.

Many of the assailants have been teenagers who appear to have acted on their own.

Some analysts say Palestinian frustration with Israeli occupation and settlement building in the West Bank, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have fed the unrest.

Israel blames incitement by Palestinian leaders and media as a main cause of the violence.

International efforts to halt the violence have so far failed.

Power said she intended to discuss the "US commitment to two states side-by-side in security and peace."
SourcE :AFP