July 10 (UPI) -- Israeli Defense Forces shot and killed a Palestinian man who opened fire on soldiers Monday after his car was ordered to stop on a major highway between two hostile settlements in the West Bank.
No Israeli troops were injured in the attack that began after the suspicious vehicle was pulled over on Route 450, near the Palestinian village of Deir Nidham and the Israeli village of Neve Tzuf.
As members of the Kfir Brigade's 94th "Duchifat" Battalion approached the small white sedan with no plates, the assailant -- later identified as 33-year-old Bilal Qadah -- emerged with a homemade "Carlo" submachine gun and a hand grenade, which he hurled toward the guard.
The soldiers immediately drew their weapons and "returned fire and neutralized" the suspect, the military announced in a statement following the incident.
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The Israeli military shut down the route between the two settlements following the shooting, according to the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council.
An image from the scene shows the suspect lying face-up on the ground next to the disabled car -- the gun at his side with the driver's side door fully open and the rear window blasted out, presumably by gunfire.
The Palestinian Authority confirmed Qadah's identity and said his remains were still in Israeli custody.
Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have boiled over in recent days, with Monday's shooting coming after the Israeli military killed two members of a Palestinian militia during a shootout in Nablus last Friday.
The Israeli military had launched raids throughout the West Bank to disrupt terror networks, rounding up six other wanted Palestinian terror suspects as part of a sweeping crackdown.
The militias have since threatened to retaliate, even as Israel Defense Forces had moved all of its fighters out of the Palestinian city of Jenin after several days of intense military raids in which at least nine Palestinians have been killed and two dozen others injured, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Palestinian terror attacks have killed 25 people this year in Israel and the West Bank, according to The Times of Israel, while as many as 152 Palestinians have died in various clashes and attacks throughout the West Bank.
