( dpa ) - Israeli undercover commandos shot dead four Palestinian militants in the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem early Wednesday evening, Palestinian security officials said.
The commandos intercepted a car with the four members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, and opened fire, they said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was checking the report.
Earlier in the day, Israeli soldiers killed a top Islamic Jihad commander an arrest raid in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm, bringing the day's total death toll to five. He was killed in exchange of fire which erupted as he resisted arrest.