Palestinian opens fire at Israeli soldiers and is shot dead

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - A Palestinian assailant threw a grenade and shot at Israeli soldiers who returned fire at him in the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Israeli military said, and Palestinian officials said the man was dead.

Violence in the West Bank, among territories where the Palestinians seek to establish a state, has worsened over the past 15 months with stepped up Israeli raids, Palestinian street attacks and assaults by Jewish settlers on Palestinian villages.

The Israeli military said soldiers had stopped a suspicious motorist on a West Bank road and questioned him, after which he exited the vehicle, threw a grenade at the forces and fired at them before they shot back and "neutralised" him.

The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed his death. There was no other immediate comment by Palestinian officials.

U.S.-brokered peace talks aimed at creating an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza collapsed in 2014 and show no sign of revival. Israel captured all three areas in the 1967 Middle East war.

Israel launched its biggest operation in years in the West Bank last week in the flashpoint city of Jenin. Twelve Palestinians, most of them confirmed militant fighters, were killed, as well as one Israeli soldier.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem and Ali Sawafta in Rammallah, editing by Mark Heinrich)