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| Israel kills Palestinians suspected of teenagers' murders | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Two Palestinians suspected of the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers in June have been killed by Israeli forces, Israel's military says. | Two Palestinians suspected of the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers in June have been killed by Israeli forces, Israel's military says. |
| A spokesman said troops searching for Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisha surrounded a building in the West Bank city of Hebron where they were hiding. | A spokesman said troops searching for Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisha surrounded a building in the West Bank city of Hebron where they were hiding. |
| "We opened fire, they returned fire and they were killed in the exchange," Lt Col Peter Lerner added. | |
| The abduction of the teenagers was a trigger of the recent conflict in Gaza. | The abduction of the teenagers was a trigger of the recent conflict in Gaza. |
| 'Slight comfort' | |
| An Israeli military statement said Mr Qawasmeh and Mr Abu Aisha were traced to a house in Hebron early on Tuesday. | |
| "During the operation, the terrorists opened fire at the security forces. The forces returned fire and the suspects were killed in the exchange." | |
| The Israeli troops were reported to have used a rocket and a bulldozer in their assault. | |
| The military initially said it had only confirmed that one of the suspects was killed. The other was also believed to dead, it added, although formal confirmation would have to wait until his body was recovered. | |
| Chief of Staff Lt Gen Benny Gantz said: "We promised the [teenagers'] families that we would find the murderers. This morning, we did just that." | |
| "This isn't a consolation for the grieving families," he reiterated, "but I hope that knowing we reached their children's murderers may slightly comfort them." | |
| One of Mr Qawasmeh's relatives has already been charged with planning the teenagers' abduction. | |
| The militant Islamist group Hamas denied being behind the killings but later on its political leader Khaled Meshaal said members had carried them out. | |
| Israel identified Mr Qawasmeh and Mr Abu Aisha as key suspects in the abduction of Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Shaar, both aged 16, and 19-year-old Eyal Yifrach shortly after the went missing at a road junction between Jerusalem and Hebron as they hitchhiked home on 12 June. | |
| But for the all the sophistication of Israel's extensive intelligence operations on the West Bank they managed to evade capture for several months, says the BBC's Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem. | |
| While they were on the run a tragic pattern of consequences flowed from the abduction, our correspondent adds. | |
| Israel launched a crackdown on the militant Islamist group in the West Bank following the abduction, detaining hundreds of members. | |
| Then on 2 July, a Palestinian teenager from East Jerusalem was abducted and burned alive in an apparent revenge attack two days after the bodies of the Israeli teenagers were found. One Jewish man and two youths have been charged with the murder of Mohammed Abu Khdair, 16. | |
| The killings set off an escalating cycle of violence, leading to a 50-day conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip that claimed more than 2,000 lives. |