Israeli troops have shot a 16-year-old boy dead near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on suspicions he was a suicide bomber.

Michal Ya'akov, an Israeli military spokesman, said he saw a man acting strangely at the Hawara checkpoint on Monday, which caused the soldiers to believe he was armed with explosives.

"A young Palestinian who seemed confused arrived at the checkpoint. When he reached the turnstile I stopped him and asked that he pass through the metal detector. The apparatus beeped when he went through," he said.

The suspect then ignored orders to stop and the troops opened fire killing him, other Israeli sources added.

Ya'akov said army sappers later detonated five pipe bombs which were placed inside the belt in a controlled explosion at the scene of the shooting.

An Israeli military spokeswoman involved in the incident told reporters that it was clear that the man was intending to attack the checkpoint.

"There were no other Palestinians in the area when he tried to blow himself up, from his behavior it appeared as if he was not intending to get into Israel but wanted to blow himself up at the checkpoint and attack the soldiers there," she said.

A Palestinian security source in Nablus said the person killed was from the village of Beit Furik near the city.

Israeli troops later entered the village to search for the house of the attacker's family, local residents said.

Gaza strike

Israeli aircraft fired toward Palestinians on the outskirts of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing a 13-year-old boy and seriously wounding another youth, Palestinian doctors said.

Israel's army says aircraft fired in the area against a group of Palestinians that had moments earlier launched a rocket toward Israel.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Israeli soldier gestures as he argues with a Palestinian at the Hawara checkpoint near the West Bank town of Nablus, Monday, May 19, 2008.

Al-Jazeera