JERUSALEM, Nov 6 (AFP) - A Palestinian gunman from was shot dead by Israeli troops late Saturday after he shot and injured three Israelis in the northern West Bank, sources on both sides said.
An Israeli military source said the gunman had been shot dead shortly after he opened fire towards three Israelis, injuring one of them critically.
Palestinian security sources confirmed that the gunman had been shot dead by Israeli troops in an olive grove in the Palestinian town of Illar near Tulkarem, but his identity was not immediately clear.
The other two Israelis were said to be only lightly wounded, the Israeli source said, correcting an earlier report that they were in moderate condition.
The radical Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the ambush in a phonecall to AFP, saying it was in revenge for Israel's killing of three of their members in the West Bank town of Nablus last week.
But the caller denied the gunman had been killed, claiming its militant had "returned safely".
The death brought the number of people killed since the beginning of the intifada, or uprising, in September 2000 to 4,560, including 3,526 Palestinians and 960 Israelis.
11/06/2004 22:17 GMT - AFP