Ramallah, Dec 16 (IANS/EFE): Israeli troops killed a young Palestinian Tuesday and wounded another in a clash in the Qalandia refugee camp, near Ramallah, officials said.

The soldiers stormed the camp and opened fire at the young man who was allegedly holding an explosive device in his hand and was about to throw it at them.

Meanwhile, witnesses told Efe news agency that the young man was on the roof of a house and that no shots were heard before the Israeli soldiers came.

Medical officials in Ramallah said the body of the victim, identified as Abdullah Mahmoud Adwan, 21, had a single gunshot wound to the head.

The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces so far this year in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank has now risen to 51.

A week ago, Ziad Abu Ein, a Palestinian Authority minister without portfolio, died in a scuffle with Israeli security forces during a peaceful demonstration against the confiscation of Palestinian land.