Israel says 300 Hizbollah fighters killed in war

JERUSALEM, Aug 1 (Reuters) Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon today said about 300 of an estimated 2,000 Hizbollah fighters have been killed in three weeks of fighting in Lebanon.

''The goal is to hit at the Hizbollah fighters and their weapons arsenal. And to today we are doing not a bad job,'' Ramon told Channel 10 television.

''It seems to me that 300 fighters out of 2,000 have been killed, that doesn't include the wounded,'' he said.

Israel's army said earlier today it had killed 20 Hizbollah guerrillas over the past 48 hours. Hizbollah has denied suffering serious new casualties. A spokesman for the Shi'ite group had said 43 fighters had died in the conflict.

Reuters SBA GC2142