West Bank: Israeli settlement guard killed in drive-by shooting

An Israeli settlement security guard was killed in a drive-by shooting late on Friday in the occupied West Bank.

The 23-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene due to gunshot wounds, Israeli ambulance service Magen David Adom said. 

CCTV footage showed a car approaching a security booth near the entrance of Ariel settlement before two men stepped out and fired at two guards inside it, killing one of them. The other guard was unharmed, Israeli newspaper Haaretz said.

The shooters managed to flee the scene, and the Israeli army said it launched a large manhunt in the area.

A lockdown was announced in Ariel settlement, in the central West Bank, after the shooting. 

Entrances to Salfit, the nearest Palestinian city to Ariel, have been closed, according to the Palestinian news website Arab48. 

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 200 settlements and outposts, deemed illegal under international law, across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. 

Palestinian killed in Qalqilya

Later in the night, a Palestinian man was fatally shot by Israeli troops during a raid in Azzun town near Qalqilya, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The man was identified as Yahya Ali Adwan, 27, who was a former prisoner. 

There are no immediate links between Adwan's death and the earlier incident in Ariel. 

The Friday shooting came nearly a month after 14 Israelis were killed in a series of shooting and stabbing attacks carried out by Palestinians from the West Bank and inside Israel. 

Israeli troops and police have been on high alert since, deploying additional army battalions to the West Bank and stepping up their operations in the occupied Palestinian territory. 

At least 20 Palestinians were fatally shot by Israeli forces in April, bringing the total number of Palestinians in the West Bank killed by Israeli forces this year to over 50.