Palestinians suspected of abducting Israeli teens killed in shoot-out

Two Palestinians suspected over the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers which sparked this summer’s Gaza bloodshed have been killed in a shoot-out with Israeli forces, the army said today.

Lt Col Peter Lerner said the suspects were killed in the West Bank.

The teenagers’ 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 led to the 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 victims remained fugitives.

Lt Col Lerner said the two, Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisheh, were killed in the shoot-out.

Hamas has said it carried out the kidnapping.