Israeli soldier, Palestinian attacker killed in West Bank truck ramming

JERUSALEM, Aug 31 (AFP): A Palestinian rammed a truck he was driving into three Israeli soldiers near a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, killing one before being shot dead, Israeli officials said.
Violence linked to the Israel-Palestinian conflict has surged since early this year, and Thursday's attack comes a day after a 14-year-old Palestinian stabbed a civilian at a light rail station in Jerusalem.
The truck driver was a 41-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank with a work permit for Israel, Avi Biton, head of police central command, told reporters at the scene of the attack. "The people he hit with his truck were soldiers."
Police earlier said officers had "received a report about a hit-and-run incident near the Maccabim checkpoint." The driver fled before being shot dead at another checkpoint a few kilometres (miles) away at Hashmonaim, west of Ramallah, they said.
Israel's defence ministry said its security personnel at the Hashmonaim checkpoint were informed by the army that the truck was coming their way.
In a separate statement, Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant offered his condolences to the family of the soldier killed and praised the security forces "for their determined action" that led to the killing of the attacker.