The exchange of fire took place west of Nablus, at the Surra-Jit checkpoint, in the northern occupied West Bank. Three armed Palestinians were killed on Sunday (March 12) after opening fire on an Israeli military position, the Israeli military said. Reached by AFP, residents of Surra said they heard gunshots around 3:30 a.m. (1:30 a.m. GMT). According to Palestinian medical sources, no dead were admitted to the Nablus morgue, suggesting that the Israeli army is in possession of the bodies.
"Gunmen opened fire on [Israeli] soldiers at a military post adjacent to the Jit Junction," the Israeli military wrote in a statement. "Soldiers ... returned fire with live ammunition" and "three gunmen were neutralized", while a fourth surrendered and is being held for questioning, adds the army, which a spokesman later confirmed. told AFP that the three neutralized assailants were Palestinians and that they had been killed. No Israeli soldier was injured, the army added.
Asked by AFP, Palestinian security sources said they had no immediate details to provide on this new deadly incident.
Since the beginning of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 81 Palestinians (including members of armed groups and civilians, including minors), 12 civilians (including three minors) and one Israeli policeman, as well only to a Ukrainian, according to an AFP tally compiled from official Israeli and Palestinian sources.
