Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers when they infiltrated an army base in the West Bank's Jordan Valley today before being shot dead.
The Israeli army said in a statement the gunmen cut through a fence surrounding the base and opened fire with assault rifles, killing two soldiers and wounding nine more in the pre-dawn attack.
Troops shot dead one gunman on the spot and the second was killed in a chase.
An anonymous caller to Reuters newsagency claimed responsibility for the attack in the name of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.
The caller said the gunmen who carried out the joint operation were from the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank.
Fighting has been on the rise this week ahead of plans to publish a new 'road map' for peace in the region. Israeli military strikes and raids in the Gaza Strip have killed 12 Palestinians in the last two days, including a senior military leader of the Islamic group Hamas.
US President George W Bush has pledged to focus on peacemaking in the region, stalled since mid-2000, after the situation in Iraq has stabilised.
At the urging of the EU and Mr Bush's key ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the US President will propose the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005 provided a new reformist cabinet under prime minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas is in place.
Yesterday, Mr Arafat gave Mr Abbas two more weeks to form an administration amid signs of disputes over the approach to democratic reforms of Palestinian security services.
AFP