GAZA/WEST BANK: Israeli air strike wounds eight in Gaza after West Bank raid leaves two Palestinians dead

Israel's air force struck a group of Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday (August 29), wounding at least eight people including bystanders, medics and witnesses said. Witnesses earlier said one person was killed in the missile strike on Gaza City's Shijaia district, an Islamic militant stronghold where Israeli forces have been operating since the weekend. But medics later amended the casualty toll. An Israeli military spokesman said the air force struck three gunmen who were spotted approaching Israeli forces. Witnesses confirmed that the air strike appeared to have targeted gunmen. At least eight Palestinians, most of them armed, have been killed in the recent clashes in Shijaia. Israel says its forces are searching the district for militant facilities. In the West Bank, Israeli special forces killed two Palestinian gunmen during a clash, witnesses said. They identified the militants slain in Balata refugee camp as members of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. Reuters Television footage showed the men's bodies lying amid blood slicks and dozens of spent bullet casings on a rooftop in Balata, near the Palestinian-ruled city of Nablus. They were taken to the morgue surrounded by wailing relatives. An Israeli military spokesman said troops patrolling Balata spotted the gunmen on the rooftop. The spokesman said there was an exchange of fire, and both gunmen were killed. Two soldiers were very lightly wounded, the spokesman added. Israel Radio described the force raiding Balata as paramilitary police with orders to arrest Palestinians involved in an almost 6-year-old revolt.

ITN Source | August 29, 2006

Tags:. .taken. .spotted. .arrest. .operating. .least