Israel kills armed Palestinian in West Bank

NABLUS, West Bank, June 21 (Reuters) Israeli soldiers today shot dead an armed Palestinian man and wounded another man during a raid to arrest wanted militants in the West Bank town of Nablus, medics and Israeli military sources said.

The violence came amid an escalation in Israeli-Palestinian tensions. An Israeli air strike aimed at militants killed three children in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, in stepped up Israeli raids on militants firing rockets at southern Israel.

Medics at a Nablus hospital said a member of the al-Aqsa Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, had died of injuries sustained when he was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers earlier today.

The Israeli army said troops searching for wanted militants had shot at the armed man, killing him. Palestinian medics said a second man was also wounded.

Reuters SY GC1050