Suicide bombing amid Mideast peace efforts

An Israeli medic on the scene of an explosion that killed two Israeli soldiers

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- As Israeli-Palestinian fighting claimed more lives, international diplomats held meetings on Friday with leaders of both sides to try and strengthen a fragile truce.

A suicide bombing killed two Israeli soldiers and the bomber, according to the Israeli army. The military wing of the Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas, Iz Aldin Alkasam, claimed responsibility for the bombing in a fax received by the Palestinian news agency.

The attack occurred near Dugit, a Jewish settlement in northern Gaza. 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.

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Immediately after arriving in the region, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns and European Union security chief Javier Solana began their diplomatic efforts.

Solana met with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem and with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Burns met with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in Herviliya north of Tel Aviv and was to meet Friday night with Ahmad Qorei, the Palestinians' top negotiator, in Abu Dis 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.

The truce is the latest step toward peace following recommendations by a five-man, international, independent committee headed by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell that investigated months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said recommendations made by the Mitchell committee report in May and a cease-fire "work plan" developed by U.S. CIA Director George Tenet during his visit to the region earlier this month were "concrete steps" he hoped to build upon during his trip.

Powell -- who is scheduled to travel to the region next week -- said security meetings between Israeli and Palestinian officials had been "positive and productive." During his trip he said he hopes to get started on a "formal beginning" of a cooling-off period and the subsequent confidence building measures mentioned in the Mitchell report.

Throughout Friday, there were several clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian demonstrators in which 15 Palestinians were injured, two of them in Gaza, one in Bethlehem and 12 in Ramallah, 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.