Israeli troops have killed two Palestinians it says were preparing terror attacks.
The Israeli military said Wednesday that it killed a Palestinian militant in the West Bank town of Nablus who was planting explosives. Palestinian witnesses say the man was hit by stray gunfire as he sat inside his home.
In a second incident, Israel's military says it shot and killed a man wearing a suicide bomb belt as he tried to slip into Israel from the Gaza Strip.
Also in Gaza, Israel says it fired missiles at a weapons factory, but media reports say the missiles hit the home of a well known lawmaker from the ruling Islamic group Hamas.
In other news, Palestinian security officials say a previously unknown militant group is claiming it kidnapped an American student in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
There were no further details.
There have been many abductions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but most captives have been released within hours.
Two journalists for the U.S. television network Fox News were kidnapped in August by Palestinian militants in Gaza. They were released after two weeks in captivity.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
