Palestinian gunmen shot dead an Israeli civilian today and wounded two others in an attack on a car near a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, a military source said.
The shooting occurred after dark on a road to the northwest of the city Ramallah, near the Jewish settlement of Talmon, the source said.
Israel's Channel One television said the slain man was a Jewish settler but he was not further identified. Medics said that the two wounded were rushed to hospitals in Jerusalem, where one was listed in fair condition and the other was treated for light injuries.
The Israelis were shot in an ambush on a winding road that was the scene of frequent shooting attacks at the outset of a three-year-old Palestinian uprising, Israel Radio reported. The gunmen fled the scene.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group with links to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsiblity for the shooting.
A spokesman said the shooting was in response to a "widespread campaign" by Israeli soldiers, who have killed some of the group's members during a series of recent raids in Palestinian cities and towns in the occupied territories.
The Israeli was the first killed in an attack by Palestinians since a Christmas Day suicide bombing near Tel Aviv. The bomber killed four other people. Nineteen Palestinians have died in confrontations with the Israeli military during this period.