Israeli troops kill armed Palestinian in West Bank clash, militant groups say

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli troops killed an armed Palestinian on Tuesday in an exchange of fire in the occupied West Bank, the Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups said, each claiming the man as a member.

The Israeli military said soldiers returned fire after being shot at and having an explosive device thrown at them during an operation in the Palestinian village of Tubas. It said it was aware of reports of Palestinian casualties but it gave no details.

In a statement, Hamas identified the Palestinian killed in Tubas as Saddam Hussein Bani Odeh, 26, hailing him as a “hero martyr” shot dead in an “armed clash with Zionist occupation forces”.

Islamic Jihad issued a similar statement, claiming Odeh as a member.

The Israeli military frequently mounts operations in Palestinian villages and towns in the West Bank, territory it captured in the 1967 Middle East war, to detain suspected militants.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, opposed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, broke down in 2014.

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Editing by Nick Macfie)