Bomb kills 2 Israeli soldiers as violence goes on

An Israeli medic works at the scene of a bombing that killed two Israeli soldiers.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The military wing of Hamas claimed responsibility Friday for a suicide bombing earlier in the day in Gaza that killed two Israeli soldiers and slightly wounded a third.

The Palestinian news agency in Gaza received a fax from Izzadin al-Qassem, the military wing of the Islamic group, claiming responsibility. The news agency also received a videotape with a statement from a man purported to be the bomber vowing to carry out the attack.

The explosion Friday near Dugit, a Jewish settlement in northern Gaza, killed the bomber and two Israeli soldiers, according to the Israeli army. Another soldier was slightly wounded.

The soldiers had stopped to investigate a vehicle parked near a beach road leading to the settlement, army officials said.

Israeli troops responded with tank and machine gun fire, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, wounding two Palestinians, one of them seriously.

In addition to those wounded in Gaza, 13 other demonstrators were wounded in clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian demonstrators, 12 in Ramallah and one in Bethlehem, the Red Crescent Society said. Two of the Palestinians in Ramallah were seriously wounded, shot in the head by rubber bullets, it said.

In what they said was a response to recent Palestinian shooting attacks, Jewish settlers targeted Palestinians in several places on the West Bank.

In Silat al-Daher, near where an Israeli was killed Wednesday, settlers set a fire in a field and fought with Palestinians.

In Bourin, settlers threw stones at a truck driven by a Palestinian man and burned dozens of olive trees. The man was slightly injured. Israeli soldiers forced the settlers to leave the village, according to witnesses.

Settlers also threw rocks at Palestinian cars at an intersection near Hebron. Soldiers dispersed the demonstration, the army said.

In Hebron, Palestinians threw dozens of firebombs at Israelis soldiers, the army said. Soldiers fired rubber-coated steel bullets in response, witnesses said.

On the diplomatic front, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns and European Union security chief Javier Solana arrived in the region Friday.

Solana met with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem and with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah.

Burns met with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in Herzliya north of Tel Aviv and was to meet Friday night with Ahmed Qurie, the Palestinians' top negotiator, in Abu Dis, a Palestinian territory on the West Bank.

Burns is to continue his diplomatic meetings Saturday with Arafat and then Sharon. He is in the region to help secure the implementation of a truce.