Israeli troops have killed two Palestinian fighters during a raid in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian resistance group and the Israeli army have said.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, linked to the Fatah faction of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, announced the deaths over loudspeakers in the city of Nablus on Tuesday.

An Israeli army spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said Israeli forces carrying out "routine activity" in the West Bank city fired at a group of armed men, hitting two of them.

A local hospital said it received the bodies of two Palestinians killed in the incident.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinians mourners carry the body of Mohammad al-Barghouthi during his funeral in the West Bank city of Ramallah March 22, 2007. (Reuters)