Israeli troops kill two armed Palestinians-army

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Feb 2 (Reuters) Israeli troops killed two armed Palestinians in a clash in the occupied West Bank today, the army said.

The two Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces when troops approached a building in the Ramallah suburb of Bitounia.

An army spokeswoman said the gunmen were wearing civilian clothes. She said one of the gunmen was shot in the building after he refused to drop his weapon. A second was shot outside.

A senior Palestinian security official said the two men were members of the Preventive Security force, which is dominated by the Fatah faction of President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Palestinian official said the two were wearing fatigues identifying them as members of Preventive Security.

He said the incident took place in a building near Preventive Security offices in Bitounia. A member of the service heard noises, suspected the troops were burglars and called for back-up.

In a separate incident in the city of Ramallah, the Israeli army said it identified hitting two other Palestinian gunmen.

The military had said the gunmen were killed in the clash, but later reported it was unclear what their condition was.

Palestinian hospital officials said they had only received the bodies of the two members of the Preventive Security force.

The army spokeswoman said the gunmen were driving in a vehicle and opened fired at the unit, which responded. One Israeli soldier was lightly wounded during the clash.

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.

Yesterday, Israeli forces killed three members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's armed wing, in the West Bank towns of Nablus and Tulkarm, residents and the military said.

Israeli troops killed a fourth Palestinian near Israel's West Bank barrier yesterday, hospital sources said, adding the 17-year-old bled to death after being shot in the leg.

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 AB BST1607