This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Israeli troops have shot dead two Palestinian attackers after they deliberately drove a car into a group of soldiers, seriously wounding one and injuring another, the military said.

The incident occurred after the soldiers had stopped their vehicle overnight about six miles (10km) north-west of the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. A third Palestinian in the car was wounded, the army said.

Spates of ramming attacks and stabbings by Palestinians against Israeli security forces and civilians peaked in late 2015 and 2016. Many were carried out by individuals rather than members of militant groups, and the frequency of such attacks has since decreased. There were eight car rammings last year, the Israeli military said.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said the two men were shot in “a brutal execution”. Amir Daraj and Yusuf Anqawi were both 20 and residents of villages near Ramallah, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Israel’s military later said in a separate statement that firebombs had been found in the car. It said the assailants had earlier thrown several of them at a crossing adjacent to route 443, which cuts through the West Bank and is used by Israelis to drive between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, but which Palestinians are largely restricted from using.

Israel took control of the West Bank from Jordan in 1967. The Palestinians hope to establish an future independent state there.

The Associated Press contributed to this report