Three Israelis have been killed and four others wounded in an armed ambush outside a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
Palestinian militants are being blamed for the attack at a hitchhiking post outside the settlements, located about 15km south of Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, in the northern West Bank, Israeli soldiers shot dead a local leader of the radical Palestinian movement Islamic Jihad.
A military source said that an initial investigation indicated that soldiers on routine patrol had been targeted by a Palestinian gunman and returned fire.
