Palestinian with toy gun shot dead

Israeli soldiers have shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the occupied West Bank town of Hebron, mistaking him for a gunman.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said troops "saw armed men and fired at one of them", thinking he was holding an assault rifle, but further checks showed that he had in fact been holding a toy gun.

A Palestinian hospital official also confirmed that the 15-year-old boy had been killed by soldiers in Hebron's Loza district on Tuesday.

A Palestinian source initially said there had been a gun battle, but later said Palestinians had not fired.

Israeli soldiers frequently raid West Bank towns in search of armed fighters suspected of involvement in attacks against Israelis or in planning violence.

Hebron is particularly tense, as several hundreds of Jewish settlers live among tens of thousands of Palestinians in a city regarded as holy by Jews, Muslims and Christians.