Hamas militant killed by Israeli troops in West Bank

(AFP) - A member of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement was killed on Friday evening during a clash with Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank, according to multiple sources.

"Mohammad Jibril Roummaneh died as a result of serious injuries caused by bullets fired by the occupying forces in El-Bireh" northeast of Ramallah, wrote the Palestinian ministry of health in a statement.

It reported that a second Palestinian had been injured but gave no details. Hamas issued a statement describing Roummaneh as one of its members who fell as a "heroic martyr" while "defending the freedom of (his) people" near the Israeli settlement of Psagot.

The statement was accompanied by an image of a very young man. "Assailants hurled Molotov cocktails at a military post adjacent to the (settlement) of Psagot", next to El-Bireh, the Israeli army said. "Soldiers... identified the suspects and responded with live fire," the statement added.

"Two assailants were neutralised and transferred to receive medical treatment." When questioned by AFP, an army spokeswoman would not confirm that one of the two had died, as announced by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. At least 242 Palestinians, 32 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed since the beginning of the year in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.