AAJ TV : Pakistan Ki Awaz

JERUSALEM : Israeli soldiers shot and killed two Palestinians Sunday at an army check post near the northern West Bank city of Nablus after they tried to stab a soldier, an army spokeswoman said.

The killings brings to four the number of Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces in the West Bank over the weekend, the first Palestinian fatalities since clashes with Israeli security forces erupted early March.

"Two Palestinians were killed after attempting to stab a soldier on patrol near Awarta, southeast of Nablus. Other soldiers opened fire at the attackers, killing them," the spokeswoman told AFP.

There was no immediate confirmation from the Palestinian side.

Israeli media said the two apparently tried to disguise themselves as farmers and stab the soldier with pitchforks.

Awarta is an army check post that controls commercial goods entering Nablus.

Medics at Nablus hospital announced earlier Sunday that a Palestinian shot by Israeli soldiers during clashes in the West Bank on Saturday died of his wounds.

Osayed Qadus, 20, was seriously wounded after being shot at Burin, south of Nablus, when Israeli troops opened fire on a group of protesters, according to medics and Palestinian security officials.

Another Palestinian, 17-year-old Mohammed Qadus, was shot dead by Israeli fire during the same clashes, they said.

Soldiers moved in to Burin, south of Nablus, to prevent clashes between Palestinians and Jewish settlers in the neighbouring settlement of Bracha.

Villagers said the clashes broke out when settlers attacked the village and was unrelated to the organised protests against Israeli settlements that have rippled through the West Bank and east Jerusalem over the past two weeks.

But the Israeli army said the Palestinians had been heading for the settlement and had hurled stones at soldiers trying to stop them.

Troops had used tear gas and rubber bullets but not live rounds, an army spokesman said.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2010