Israeli tanks shell Palestinian targets

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli tanks shelled and destroyed Palestinian police outposts in the West Bank early Friday in retaliation for the death of a Jewish settler, said the Israel Defense Forces.

The IDF said police and Force 17 outposts were destroyed in Bituniya and north of Ramallah. The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported no casualties.

Force 17 is the elite guard unit charged with protecting Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

The pre-dawn attack follows the shooting death of an Israeli youth Thursday near a settlement north Jerusalem, Israeli officials said.

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An Israeli Army spokesman said the youth, 17, was shot while riding in a car near the settlement of Givat Zeev. Other people riding in the car were not hurt.

A police spokesman said the shots were fired by Palestinians waiting by the side of the road, who later escaped to a nearby Palestinian village.

Palestinians were also blamed by the army spokesman for three bombs that went off in the West Bank earlier in the day.

Two bombs went off near Israeli army vehicles near Jenin around 5 p.m. local time Thursday. The vehicles were damaged but no one was hurt, the spokesman said.

Within the hour another bomb exploded near an Israeli bus in the northern part of the West Bank. Again, no one was hurt.