Israel kills Palestinian gunman and woman amid truce

JENIN, West Bank, Nov 27 (Reuters) Israeli troops killed two Palestinians, including a local militant commander, in the West Bank today, during clashes that raised doubts over how long a shaky truce in the Gaza Strip might last.

The Popular Resistance Committees militant group said the commander was one of its own. The faction is one of the groups behind rocket fire from Gaza that tailed off yesterday as a truce with Israel took hold.

''The crime of the assassination of Abdel-Razek Baker will not pass without punishment,'' the group said in a statement, referring to the 22-year-old militant.

It said it would discuss with other factions whether they should continue to honour the Gaza truce.

The army said soldiers had been on patrol at a village near the city of Jenin when they came under fire from militants.

An army spokesman said they shot a ''suspicious figure'' who approached them and then another unidentified person who took a gun from the man lying on the ground.

Palestinian hospital officials said the soldiers shot dead a militant in an exchange of fire and a 50-year-old woman who rushed to his aid.

The truce took effect on Sunday with the aim of ending Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza and a crushing Israeli offensive that was launched after gunmen abducted a soldier on a cross-border raid in June.

Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz said the ceasefire could help bring the release of the captured soldier and the start of real dialogue with the Palestinians, but he reiterated that Israel would defend itself against threats.

Referring to the shooting in the West Bank, Peretz said: ''These actions are meant to prevent harm against Israeli civilians.'' The truce in the Gaza Strip has been cited by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as a possible step to reviving peace talks that collapsed before the start of a Palestinian uprising in 2000.

Olmert and an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday that they hoped the ceasefire could also spread to the West Bank.

REUTERS BDP PM1328