FIRST LEAD: Israeli ground troops in Gaza kill six Palestinians

Jun 27, 2007, 7:47 GMT

Gaza - Israel sent ground troops into the southern and northern Gaza Strip early Wednesday, sparking fighting with local Palestinian militants and killing at least six, medical officials said.

Witnesses said troops were operating on the eastern outskirts of Gaza City in the north and the eastern outskirts of Khan Younis in the south, in both cases up to two kilometres into the Strip.

An Israeli army spokeswoman would only say they were operating against 'terrorist threats from the region.'

Palestinian witnesses said an Israeli shell hit a house opposite the Karni border east of Gaza City, killing two militants of the al- Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, and wounding three other members of the same Helles family.

The Israeli military said it was returning fire at an armed militant.

An Islamic Jihad militant was also killed in Gaza City when his car was struck by a missile fired from an aircraft backing up the ground troops on the city outskirts, witnesses said.

Heavy gunbattles meanwhile were also ongoing east of Khan Younis, where militants confronted the Israeli troops with anti-tank missiles and semi-automatic fire. An Islamic Jihad and a Hamas militant were killed there, while witnesses said that a member of Hamas' Executive Force was also killed in an explosion.

Palestinians said the Israeli ground operations, which injured also six others, were the toughest since Hamas seized full control of the Strip nearly two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem Wednesday morning.

In talks with his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni the previous evening, he had warned that 'a divided Palestine is a problem for Israel and the whole world.'

The Islamic Jihad had earlier claimed responsibility for firing two Gaza-made al-Quds rockets at southern Israel.