Gaza gunmen say traded fire with troops

GAZA - Palestinian militants said today they were wounded in a gunfight with Israeli forces in northern Gaza, while the army denied troops had entered or fired into the territory, where forces have been massing.

The militants, from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah group, said soldiers crossed more than half a mile into Gaza and traded gunfire with them. Medics said two gunmen were injured.

An Israeli army spokesman said ground forces had not operated in northern Gaza but that an air strike had targeted a weapons foundry near the area.

Israel launched about a dozen air strikes in Gaza on Friday as part of a larger offensive into the coastal territory intended to force militants into giving up an Israeli soldier abducted on Sunday. It was Israel's first assault on Gaza since it pulled out of the Palestinian enclave last summer.

Several offices and training camps for the Hamas militant group, which leads the Palestinian government, were among the targets.

- REUTERS