A woman has been shot dead in the West Bank after gunmen opened fire on an Israeli car.

Palestinian gunmen shot dead an Israeli soldier and wounded another in a retaliatory shooting hours after a Palestinian militia leader was killed by a bomb as he emerged from his West Bank hideout.

Israel stands accused of returning to assassination as a weapon after a Palestinian militia leader was blown up outside his West Bank hideout.

Two passengers have been killed after Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a car carrying Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement activists.