An Islamist group calling itself the Forces of the Martyr Omar al-Mukhtar claimed responsibility Monday for an attack on Israeli troops escorting a busload of Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip, reported AFP.
The Jerusalem Post newspaper reported that an exchange of fire between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers followed the explosion.
A statement by the group received by AFP in Beirut said that after the blast, "our fighters opened fire with their automatic weapons, and threw hand grenades at the military patrol, causing casualties among the soldiers and settlers."
However, the Jerusalem Post reported that one soldier only was lightly wounded in the explosion.
The Omar al-Mukhtar group, named after a Libyan nationalist who fought the Italians, has claimed a number of small-scale attacks in the Palestinian territories recently, reappearing after an absence of two years, said the agency – (Several Sources)
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