The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Tulkarem

Israeli troops killed three armed Palestinians on Sunday, one of them in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank and two in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, officials on both sides said.

In the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem, Israeli troops shot dead Mohammad Qozah, 25, of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a group loosely linked with president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, medics and Palestinian security sources said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said troops entered the Tulkarem refugee camp in search of two militants and shot at the men as they tried to flee. One of the men was killed and the other wounded and evacuated to hospital in Israel.

A statement by the Israeli army later said that Qozah "was recently involved in an attempted suicide attack inside Israel" as well as attacks with explosives and automatic weapons against soldiers in Tulkarem.