IDF: Palestinian placing explosive device on West Bank highway shot by troops

A Palestinian man was shot by Israeli troops in the central West Bank on Sunday evening, after he placed an explosive device on a highway, the military said.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, soldiers of the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps identified and opened fire at the suspect who was allegedly placing a bomb on the Route 458 highway, close to the Palestinian village of al-Mughayyir.

Army sappers were called to the scene to disarm the device, the IDF said.

The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry said the suspect was brought to a nearby hospital in moderate condition.

The incident came hours after Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a settlement in the northern West Bank and a town in Israel bordering the security barrier, causing slight damage.

The IDF said it had launched a manhunt for the suspects behind the shooting attack. A local wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group claimed responsibility.

Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have been elevated for the past year, with the military carrying out near-nightly raids in the West Bank, in the wake of a series of deadly Palestinian terror attacks.

Earlier this year, a string of Palestinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank killed 19 people and left several more seriously hurt.

At least 111 West Bank Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the year, most of them while carrying out attacks or during clashes with security forces, but some were uninvolved civilians or were killed under circumstances that are being investigated.