Israeli troops kill three Palestinians in West Bank

NABLUS, West Bank, Feb 1 (Reuters) Israeli troops killed three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank today, local residents and medical officials said.

The witnesses said two gunmen from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the militant wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, were shot dead during a clash in the town of Nablus.

An Israeli military source said a force identified two gunmen and fired at them during an operation in Nablus.

Israeli troops shot dead a third Palestinian near Israel's West Bank barrier, hospital sources said. They said a 17-year-old Palestinian had been shot in the leg by Israeli troops and bled to death.

An army spokeswoman said forces operating near the Qalandiya refugee camp outside the West Bank city of Ramallah shot a man trying to cut through the fence.

Israel says the barrier is needed to prevent suicide bombers infiltrating its cities. Palestinians denounce it as a land grab which could deny them a state on land Israel occupied in 1967.

The Israeli army has mounted several raids in the West Bank since a Palestinian suicide bomber killed three people in the Israeli resort city of Eilat on Monday.

The suicide bombing, claimed by Islamic Jihad and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, was the first in Israel in nine months.

A shaky truce between Israel and the Palestinians has been in place in the Gaza Strip since November but does not apply to the West Bank.

REUTERS AKJ HS1531