Two Palestinians killed in clashes with Israeli troops

NABLUS, West Bank (AP) _ Two Palestinian militants were killed in clashes with the Israeli army, the military said Wednesday. <br/><br/>Troops on an arrest raid shot to death a fugitive wanted by Israel

Wednesday, October 11th 2006, 6:44 am

By: News On 6

NABLUS, West Bank (AP) _ Two Palestinian militants were killed in clashes with the Israeli army, the military said Wednesday.

Troops on an arrest raid shot to death a fugitive wanted by Israel in the West Bank city of Nablus before dawn, witnesses and the army said.

Relatives identified the man as Abdullah Mansour, 31, a militant in the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. Mansour was at his window watching a gunbattle between militants and Israeli troops when a single bullet struck him in the head, they said.

The army said that in the course of an overnight arrest raid, soldiers were fired upon and identified a man laying an explosive. They opened fire and killed him, the army said.

In the second incident, soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian militant who infiltrated from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel on Tuesday night wearing a bomb belt.

Palestinian security sources could not immediately confirm the report.

Israel kept up its pressure on militants overnight, with an airstrike early Wednesday on the Gaza home of a Hamas legislator, Mariam Frahat. Palestinian security officials said the house was unoccupied at the time, and no casualties were reported.

The army said aircraft hit an uninhabited building in which arms were stored.