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Israeli troops kill two W.Bank gunmen | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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JENIN, West Bank, (Reuters) – Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian militants near the West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday, Palestinian security sources and a witness said.

The army said it was checking the report.

A farmer who witnessed the incident said the men were ordered out of their car by members of what he believed to be an Israeli undercover unit before being shot.

Palestinian security sources identified the men as militants from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a group within President Mahmoud Abbas”s Fatah movement.

The men were on Israel”s wanted list, but had been absorbed into the security forces as part of Abbas”s moves to end attacks on Israel following a truce in February, the sources said.

Israel stepped up raids in the West Bank following a suicide bombing by Islamic Jihad that killed six Israelis last month.

Continued violence has dimmed hopes that Israel”s withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip in September could lead to renewed peacemaking.