Ramallah/Tel Aviv - Israeli soldiers shot dead an elderly Palestinian Wednesday morning in the village of Yamoun, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Voice of Palestine Radio reported.

It said the soldiers entered the village and surprised Muhammad Abahreh, who emerged from his house to check on a commotion he heard outside. According to his family, Abahreh used a torch and discovered the noise was made by the soldiers, who opened fire at him.

The radio said Abahreh, in his late 60s, was shot in the abdomen and left to bleed for two hours until the soldiers ended their patrol and allowed a Palestinian ambulance to pick him up.

An Israeli army spokesman gave a different version of events, saying the man had been armed and opened fire at the soldiers, who shot back.

The soldiers found a hunting rifle on his body, "which of course is a proof that he did use a weapon," and additional ammunition nearby, the spokesman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

He said he was checking the charge that Abahreh's evacuation to hospital was held up.

Abahreh's son, Warrad, was also killed by Israeli soldiers three years ago, the report said.

He was a militant in the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the armed wing of President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. (dpa)