Palestinian killed; Israel says he was planting bomb

NABLUS, West Bank (CNN) -- A Palestinian was shot and killed Thursday in a clash with Israeli troops near Nablus in the West Bank, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) called the man a "terrorist" and said he was killed when a bomb he was attempting to plant was set off by Israeli fire.

"An IDF force that was in a operational activity near Nablus identified in the afternoon two armed suspicious figures laying a bomb next to Zwata, a village north of Nablus," said an IDF spokesman.

"The force opened fire towards those figures," he said. "As a result from the shooting, the bomb exploded, one of the terrorists was killed, and the other injured and escaped to a Palestinian territory."