NABLUS, Dec 29: An 11-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead on Sunday when Israeli troops opened fire in the reoccupied West Bank town of Tulkarem, and more violence loomed in the region after a weekend of bloodshed.

Even as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon threatened to step up the army’s policy of hunting down and killing militant suspects, he gave a cautious nod to the latest draft of a roadmap for Middle East peace which obliges Palestinians to take concrete steps to curb attacks.

In Tulkarem, like most West Bank towns reoccupied by the Israeli army since June, Abdelkarim Salameh, 11, was returning home from a school exam when Israeli troops opened fire from a jeep, fatally wounding him in the head and injuring another boy, in the legs, Palestinian medics and witnesses said.—AFP