Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian Arab and seriously wounded two others near the village of Beit Ur overnight Monday, Palestinian security officials told AFP.

They said the dead man was Mahmoud Badran, 20, and added Israeli liaison officials told them soldiers opened fire at the three as they hurled rocks at traffic on a nearby Israeli highway.

The army said it was looking into the incident, which could be related to a rock throwing incident on Route 443 earlier.

Several vehicles were damaged and two drivers were lightly injured by glass from shattered windscreens as Palestinians threw bottles and rocks at traffic on the busy highway.

Route 443 has been continuously targeted by terrorists, particularly during the latest terror wave which began before Rosh Hashanah.

Police presence along the highway and the surrounding area was heightened last year to counter the growing terror threat along the road, which integrates Israeli and Palestinian drivers despite being in a critical area of Israel, between Modi’in and Jerusalem.