A Palestinian has shot dead two Israelis and wounded at least two others at a bus stop in the West Bank, after Israeli forces killed two Palestinians suspected of involvement in earlier attacks.

“A Palestinian opened fire at a bus stop killing 2 Israelis, severely injuring 1 & injuring others at Asaf Junction, north of Jerusalem,” the Israeli military said on Twitter on Thursday. An army spokesperson was unable to confirm reports that the assailant had targeted Israeli soldiers.

The attack occurred near the Israeli settlement of Ofra, on the main road that crosses the West Bank from north to south. It came hours after Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in the West Bank. Those killings by Israeli forces followed recent attacks that claimed the lives of three Israelis; after one of these attacks, a baby also died in hospital three days later: the infant had been delivered prematurely by caesarean section to a woman wounded in the shooting.

One of the Palestinians was Salah Barghouti, a 29-year-old accused of shooting at Israelis on Sunday at a bus stop near the Ofra settlement. That attack wounded seven people including a woman who was seven months pregnant.

Doctors performed an emergency caesarean in an attempt to save the unborn child, but he died on Wednesday. His mother remains in hospital in a serious condition.

The other Palestinian killed by Israeli forces overnight had been suspected of shooting two Israelis dead two months ago. Ashraf Naalwa, 23, was killed when forces tried to arrest him near Nablus, Israel’s Shin Bet security service said.