RAMALLAH, Dec. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- A member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed offshoot of the Palestinian dominant Fatah movement, was killed early on Sunday during an Israeli incursion into the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian security sources said.

    The sources said an Israeli troop backed by some five military tanks and more than 40 jeeps and armored vehicles stormed the refugee camp of Balata in Nablus early on Sunday, hunting for wanted Palestinian militants.

    The sources and witnesses said clashes erupted between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants in the refugee camp.

    Medics at a Nablus hospital said Iyyad Hashash, 19, who was a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, was seriously injured in the clashes and later died of his wounds in the hospital.

    Meanwhile, Israel Radio quoted Israeli army sources as saying that Hashash was killed when a grenade he was attempting to throw at Israeli soldiers exploded prematurely.

    In addition, three Palestinians were arrested by the Israeli troop during the raid, according to Palestinian security sources.

    Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli forces nabbed four members of the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine west of Ramallah and a member of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Hebron, according to the sources.

    In the West Bank city of Jenin, four Palestinians were arrested in the Marah neighborhood during an Israeli raid early on Sunday.

    Israel has stepped up military operations against Palestinian militants since a deadly suicide bomb attack killed five Israelis in the coastal Israeli city of Netanya on Dec. 5. Enditem