Palestinian death sparks clashes

Several hundred Palestinians confronted Israeli security forces on Wednesday, angry over the death of a Palestinian teenager who had been kidnapped at dawn. The protest soon turned violent with Palestinians pelting the police with stones and setting tires on fire.

As the scene grew violent, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the murder of the Palestinian teen and urged calm.

The Israeli premier "asked the investigating authorities to work as quickly as possible to find out who was behind the despicable murder of the youth, and what is the background of the incident," a statement from his office said.

"The prime minister calls on all sides not to take the law into their own hands," it said.

In the early morning hours of Wednesday, the teen was reportedly pulled into a car near his home in the east Jerusalem refugee camp of Shu'afat. Hours later, police found a body in a forest outside of the city. While authorities have not confirmed the identity of the body, local residents believed it to be his.

The Israeli government pledged to "act as quickly as possible" to solve the case.

The death of a Palestinian teen on Wednesday raised fears of a possible revenge attack, just days after Israeli security forces located the bodies of three teenagers who had been missing in the West Bank for some two weeks.

The Israeli government has vowed to make Islamist group Hamas "pay" for the deadly abduction. However, the extremist faction - which recently reconciled with the West Bank's ruling government under Fatah - has not claimed responsibility for the murders.

kms/rc (AP, AFP, dpa)