2 Israeli troops and 1 Palestinian killed in Hebron

TWO off-duty Israeli soldiers hiking in the West Bank were killed yesterday by Palestinian gunmen but managed to fire at their assailants and kill one of them.

A woman, who was hiking with the two but escaped unharmed, told Israel Radio she and the two Israelis were in the hills outside the Palestinian town of Hebron when they were approached by a jeep carrying several Palestinian gunmen who fired at them. The army confirmed those details and said a second Palestinian assailant was seriously wounded in the firefight. Palestinian security officials confirmed one Palestinian died.

No Palestinian militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The killings followed an Israeli operation in which troops killed a bodyguard for the Palestinians’ chief negotiator.

In a night-time raid in the West Bank, Israeli forces killed a bodyguard for Ahmed Qureia, the chief Palestinian negotiator in peace talks only recently relaunched Israel has been limiting its operations in the West Bank, ruled by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, as it negotiates a peace agreement with Mr Abbas’s moderate government. However, on Thursday night the Israeli military sent a team into a suburb of Ramallah, the seat of Mr Abbas’ government, to arrest one of Mr Qureia’s bodyguards, a member of the Palestinian security forces who the military said had provided weapons to other militants. He opened fire and they fired back, killing him, the military said. Palestinian officials denied the bodyguard fired at troops.