Bomb near Jerusalem kills two, wounds 16

A bomb that exploded between two Israeli army checkpoints outside Jerusalem today killed two Palestinians and wounded 16 people…

A bomb that exploded between two Israeli army checkpoints outside Jerusalem today killed two Palestinians and wounded 16 people, medics said.

Israel Radio said a Palestinian in a car being checked by police at the West Bank checkpoint of Qalandiya was believed to have detonated a bomb either hidden on his person or rigged to the vehicle.

Militants in Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction claimed responsibility for the attack.

Witnesses said the blast happened after Israeli border police declared a security alert and began combing the area between Qalandiya and A-Ram checkpoints on a main road between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah.

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Palestinian medics in Ramallah said two Palestinians were killed and nine wounded, including a boy in critical condition. Israeli medics said seven Israelis were wounded.

Palestinian militants have carried out dozens of suicide attacks and car bombings against Israelis during a revolt begun almost four years ago in the West Bank and Gaza, territories Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

In pre-dawn violence in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli helicopter fired a missile into the Khan Younis refugee camp, wounding 15 people as gunmen confronted an Israeli force demolishing Palestinian homes near a Jewish settlement.

An Israeli military source said the army was carrying out an operation against Palestinian militants in Khan Younis and the helicopter had fired at an "open area" to repulse armed men.

Palestinian medics said most of the wounded were civilians, including two children and a woman. At least one gunman was among the casualties. One person was in critical condition.