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An Israeli army spokesman says two Palestinians suspected in the fatal abduction of three Israeli teens in June have been killed in a shootout with Israeli forces.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner says the suspects were killed in the West Bank on Tuesday.

The teens' abduction in the West Bank sparked a massive manhunt, leading to the arrest of hundreds of activists of the Islamic militant group Hamas and eventually sparking the summer war in Gaza.

The bodies of the three Israelis were found three weeks later and a suspected mastermind was arrested.

But the two main suspects believed to have abducted and killed the teens had remained fugitives.

Lerner says the two, Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisheh, were killed in the shootout.

Hamas had claimed responsibility for the abduction.