Israeli troops search West Bank after killing of soldier

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli troops raided a Palestinian village today and the military said it was sending reinforcements to the West Bank, hours after the body of a 19-year-old soldier with stab wounds was found near a Jewish settlement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the killing as a terror attack and vowed the killers would be brought to justice.

The killing threatened to inflame tensions between Israelis and Palestinians just over a month before Israel's parliament elections. In response to the incident, Netanyahu's nationalist allies called for further West Bank settlement construction and a heavy-handed response.

The soldier was identified as 19-year-old Dvir Sorek, from the West Bank settlement of Ofra, north of Jerusalem. He was a student at a pre-military Jewish seminary in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, south of Jerusalem. His body was found on the side of a road near the seminary.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said the soldier was neither armed nor in uniform when his body was found. He said the military was investigating the circumstances of his death and searching for suspects.

As part of the searches, a column of Israeli jeeps entered the nearby Palestinian village of Beit Fajar, a mile south of where the body was found. Soldiers blocked the road and searched homes.