West Bank mosque torched in suspected revenge attack

Israeli settlers torched a West Bank mosque in an apparent revenge attack on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said.

Months of unrest have escalated in recent days, spreading from occupied east Jerusalem across the rest of the West Bank and into Palestinian communities inside Israel, raising fears of a new Palestinian uprising.

The pre-dawn arson attack on a mosque near the Shilo settlement came after separate Palestinian knife attacks on Monday killed a settler in the southern Western Bank and an Israeli soldier in Tel Aviv.

"The settlers set fire to the whole of the first floor of the mosque" in Al-Mughayir village near the West Bank city of Ramallah, a security official said.

Police confirmed the incident and opened an investigation.