HEBRON, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers detained two Palestinian policemen in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron on Friday and fired warning shots to disperse crowds of stone-throwing protesters, Israeli and Palestinian sources said.

A Palestinian police chief, Ramadan Awwad, said two of his officers had been seized without explanation as they patrolled a Hebron street.

An Israeli military official said soldiers detained the policemen for being in a zone they were not permitted to patrol under Western-brokered security arrangements.

"They were armed, they were told to move and an argument ensued," the Israeli official said, adding that the two had been taken for questioning and were expected to be released.

In a separate incident, soldiers fired guns into the air when protesters threw stones, the Israeli official said, in a part of Hebron where some 600 Jewish settlers live in fortified enclaves and tensions often flare.

Palestinian witnesses said stones were thrown in protest against the arrests of the policemen.

There were no reported injuries from the gunfire.

Palestinian police, armed with pistols, have been implementing a Western-backed security plan for the past six months. They patrol parts of Hebron assigned to Palestinian control under interim peace deals from the 1990s.

The Israeli army controls an area where settlers live in Hebron. The city is home to some 180,000 Palestinians. (Reporting by Haitham Tamimi; editing by Andrew Roche)

AlertNet news is provided by