Palestinian gunman killed after wounding 3 Israeli soldiers

JERUSALEM – A Palestinian gunman opened fire on a West Bank checkpoint on Monday, wounding three Israeli soldiers before forces shot and killed him, the Israeli military said.

Palestinian security officials identified the shooter as Mohammed Turkman, a 25-year-old police officer from the northern West Bank. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the officer’s identity with the media.

Israel’s emergency rescue service MDA said one soldier was seriously wounded and two others suffered light injuries in the attack, which took place near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The shooting was the latest in more than a year of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Palestinian assailants, using knives, vehicles and guns, have killed 36 Israelis and two visiting Americans in near-daily attacks. More than 223 Palestinians have been killed since September 2015, most of them said by Israel to have been attackers. The rest were killed in clashes with Israeli troops.

Israel says the violence is driven by a Palestinian campaign of lies and incitement. The Palestinians say it is rooted in frustrations stemming from nearly 50 years of Israeli occupation and dwindling hopes for an independent state.

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Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh contributed to this report from Ramallah, West Bank.