Israeli troops shot dead three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank yesterday, Palestinian officials said, before a suspected car-ramming attacker was killed after wounding an Israeli soldier, Israeli medics and the army said.

The army confirmed its troops had fired on "rioters" who attacked soldiers in two separate clashes in the West Bank overnight.

The 20-year-old woman soldier was "moderately injured and evacuated to a hospital for medical treatment" following the suspected car-ramming north of Jerusalem, the army said. Jerusalem's Shaare Tzedek hospital confirmed the alleged attacker had been killed.

The West Bank has suffered spiralling violence this year, with near daily Israeli army raids leading to scores of deaths -- of Palestinian fighters and also civilians -- while Jewish settlers have been increasingly targeted by at times deadly Palestinian violence.

In Kafr Ein, near Ramallah, two brothers were killed by Israeli fire, the Palestinian health ministry said.

A third man died of bullet wounds to the head fired by Israeli troops in Beit Ummar, near the flashpoint city of Hebron, the ministry said.

Commenting on the Beit Ummar clash, the Israeli army said it had opened fire on "rioters" who "hurled rocks and improvised explosive devices at the soldiers" after two vehicles got stuck during an "operation patrol" in the area.

Palestinian official news agency Wafa named the dead man as Mufid Mahmud Khalil, 44, from the Beit Ummar area.

The Israeli army said "a violent riot was instigated by a number of suspects," during "routine" overnight activity in the Kafr Ein area.