Two Palestinians, suspected of being Israeli collaborators, have been shot dead by masked gunmen from the radical Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in two separate incidents.
Witnesses said a 36-year-old man was shot dead in the village of Ramin, some 10 kilometers (seven miles) east of the northern town of Tulkarem, while the second man, 65, was shot in Jayus village, just outside the town of Qalqilya.
The masked gunmen belonged to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah party, the witnesses said.
The 36-year-old man had previously been jailed for a month by the Palestinian Authority for security reasons and was known locally for being a "collaborator", they said.
In the case of the 65-year-old Palestinian, residents of Jayus village said it was not clear whether or not he had been a collaborator.
Meanwhile, another Jayus resident was shot in the legs by gunmen and taken to hospital, but he was not thought to be badly hurt, witnesses said.
It was not clear who shot the third man, nor whether he had been suspected of collaboration, they said.
The deaths brought the toll to seven for suspected collaborators killed in since August 24.
Since the intifada erupted two years ago, suspected Palestinian collaborators have been frequent targets of unidentified gunmen, who are rarely caught after slaying their victims. The bodies are often dumped, or even strung up, in public as a warning to others.
Collaborators represent a central pillar in Israel's policy of eliminating Palestinian militants whom it accuses of involvement in anti-Israeli operations.
AFP