Five Palestinian militants were killed Monday morning in a botched attack at Israel's border with the central Gaza Strip, both sides reported.An Israeli military spokesman in Tel Aviv said a battle erupted after a group of Palestinian militants opened fire on an Israeli army patrol on the Israeli side of the border near the border crossing of Nahal Oz, east of Gaza City and opposite the Israeli village of Kfar Aza.
Witnesses said the gunmen and Israeli troops engaged each other for nearly half an hour. The Israeli military used air support during the clash and the gunmenalso used five horses booby trapped with explosives, an Israeli military statement said. There were no Israeli casualties. According to the Israeli statement, the gunmen were planting explosive devices when the incident began.
Gaza emergency services chief Mo'aweya Hassanein confirmed that five Palestinians were killed and some four wounded in a strike from the air during the clash east of Gaza City. Security officials said the gunmen had been on their way to carry out "a joint military operation" against Israel when they were spotted by the Israeli troops.
Witnesses living in the area said the militants, around 10 of them, were riding horses, and driving arms-laden cars. The apparent aim of the botched raid had been to capture an Israeli soldier, they said. The witnesses added they heard gunshots, explosions and the buzz of Apache helicopter gunships.
No known group has as yet claimed responsibility for the botched attack, the biggest since Israel ended a deadly and destructive, 22-day offensive in Gaza in January that had been aimed at curbing rocket and mortar attacks at southern Israeli towns and villages. But unconfirmed reports said a pro-al Qaeda group calling itself Gund Allah, or Knights of God, claimed credit.
Another small radical group, calling itself Jeish al-Oma, or the Nation's Army, denied an earlier report that it was behind the operation. The Gaza Strip has seen a tense, relative calm since Israel ended its offensive in the coastal salient on January 18.
Some sporadic rocket and mortar fire has continued since then, to which Israel has responded with airstrikes, mostly on smuggling tunnels dug under the border with Egypt. A United Nations team has been in Gaza since last week to investigate allegations of war crimes committed during the December- January offensive.
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