Two off-duty Israeli soldiers hiking in the West Bank were killed Friday by Palestinian fighters but before they died, they managed to fire back at their assailants and kill one of them, the military said.
A second Palestinian was seriously wounded in the firefight, the Israeli army said, according to the AP. Both soldiers were from elite units in the Israel army.
A woman who was with the two Israelis but escaped unharmed told Israel Radio they had been hiking in the hills outside the Palestinian city of Hebron and not far from the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba where all three lived. They were approached by a jeep carrying a group of Palestinian fighters who fired at them, said the woman.
Palestinian security officials confirmed one Palestinian died in the clash.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades group later claimed responsibility for the attack on the Israelis in a news conference in the Gaza Strip. The group described it as an act of revenge for the killing of Palestinian activist there by the Israeli military. Witnesses who arrived at the site in the aftermath of the Hebron clash said they saw a jeep, apparently used by the attackers, riddled with bullet holes and spattered with blood being towed away for investigation. They said Israeli troops and Palestinian police were working together at the scene.
