NILIN, West Bank, Aug 31 (Reuters) - A Palestinian truck driver killed an Israeli soldier in a ramming attack near a checkpoint on the boundary with the occupied West Bank on Thursday, and was shot dead during an ensuing pursuit, Israeli military and medical officials said.
The incident came hours after Palestinians wounded four Israeli soldiers in a roadside bombing in the West Bank, which has seen spiralling violence in recent months amid an almost decade-long deadlock in U.S.-sponsored peacemaking efforts.
Security forces pursued the driver into the West Bank, shooting him near the Palestinian village of Nilin, Israeli police said.
The West Bank is among areas where Palestinians seek statehood, a prospect ruled out by Israel's rightist government, which promotes Jewish settlement of the territory.
Overnight, the Islamic Jihad faction said it set off a roadside bomb against Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Nablus.
Persons:
Ammar Awad, Dan Williams, Nidal, Alex Richardson, Mark Heinrich Our
Organizations:
West Bank, Security, REUTERS, Hamas, Palestinian Authority, Islamic Jihad, Thomson
Locations:
West, Palestinian, Israel, Nilin, Maccabim, Nablus