Israeli forces kill militant and boy -Palestinians

TULKARM, West Bank, Aug 24 (Reuters) Israeli forces killed a Palestinian gunman and a 13-year-old Israeli Arab boy during a raid today in a village in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian ambulance crews said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said troops operating in the village of Seida, near the town of Tulkarm, killed an armed man and wounded another in exchanges of fire.

Asked about the boy, the spokeswoman said: ''We know another person was killed.'' She said she had no immediate information on his identity.

Palestinian ambulance crews said the gunman belonged to the Islamic Jihad group and the boy was an Israeli Arab who was visiting relatives in the village.

The army spokeswoman said Israeli forces found two Kalashnikov rifles, military vests and ammunition during the operation and that an Israeli paramilitary policeman was wounded and treated at the scene.

Israel says raids against Palestinian militants help to foil attacks against its citizens. Palestinian leaders in the West Bank, where the Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas holds sway, say such operations harm chances for peacemaking.

Israel recently granted amnesty to 178 Fatah militants in the occupied territory in a bid to boost him following the violent takeover by Hamas Islamists of the Gaza Strip in June.

REUTERS Mir RK2325