GAZA, Dec. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The Israeli army declared on Sunday night that Rafah Crossing on the border line between southern Gazaand Egypt had been shut down after an attack killing at least 4Israeli soldiers.

    Israeli Army Radio reported that the army decided to close down the crossing, the only exit for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip tothe world, until a further notice.

    Earlier, two Palestinian militants managed to infiltrate into the Israeli army post into the crossing area after detonating a 1.5ton of explosive device placed into a tunnel under the post, and clashed with the soldiers.

    One Palestinian militant was killed and other managed to run away from the area after he had stolen a heavy Israeli army machinegun, a leaflet jointly signed by Hamas and Fatah movements'armed wings.

    The two groups said in the joint leaflet that the attack was carried out in three stages, one after the other.

    It explained that the first was the detonation of the explosive device into the tunnel under the post and the second stage was sending the two militants into the post to clash with the soldiers.

    "The third stage was carried out when dozens of soldiers and rescue teams arrived at the place of the first explosion, another explosive device was detonated, killing and wounding many soldiers," said the leaflet. Enditem