Israeli troops kill 2 Palestinians in arrest raids

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinians, including a 13-year-old, in clashes during West Bank raids today, as a search for three Israeli teens feared abducted in the territory entered its second week.

Two other Palestinians were seriously wounded by army gunfire during raids in four towns and refugee camps. The two Palestinians killed raised to three the number of Palestinians shot dead by troops during search operations this week.

The three Jewish seminary students disappeared June 12 while hitchhiking in the West Bank. Israel has blamed the Islamic militant Hamas group for the apparent abduction, but has offered no proof.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has used the search to promote two other objectives — a new crackdown on Hamas and an attempt to discredit the Palestinian unity government formed earlier this month by Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas, which is supported by Hamas.