HEBRON, West Bank, June 8 (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian youth and wounded another near the occupied West Bank town of Hebron on Friday, local residents, medical staff and the army said. Residents said the two were out hunting near a village in the southern part of the West Bank. They were not known to be connected to any militant groups. Medics said the dead youth was aged 17, while the other victim, who was in moderate condition, was 25. An Israeli army spokesman said troops spotted a number of men discharging their weapons and targeted them. He said Palestinians carrying weapons were seen as a threat and could be targeted, according to standing orders. "The troops spotted a number of men with guns firing off their weapons and opened fire on them, hitting two of them," the spokesman said. The dead youth was the third Palestinian to be killed by Israeli troops in the West Bank this month. On Sunday, troops killed a militant in the town of Jenin and on Saturday soldiers shot dead a Nablus shopkeeper. Israeli-Palestinian fighting has surged in recent weeks, mainly in the Gaza Strip, with rocket attacks from the coastal territory and Israeli strikes against militants there. Earlier on Friday, Israeli worshipers desecrated a Palestinian cemetery near the West Bank city of Nablus, the army said. An army spokesman said the damage had been caused by a small number of people who were part of a larger group of worshipers returning from prayers at a Jewish holy site in the West Bank. "Most of the 1,300 worshipers behaved well, but a small group managed to sneak away from escorting troops and damaged the cemetery. We consider this to be a very serious act and the organisers have apologised and have agreed to pay for the damage caused," the spokesman said. Israel Radio reported that one of Israel's two chief rabbis and other senior Jewish clerics condemned the act.
