Israeli soldiers kill two Hamas militants in southern Gaza (1st Lead)

Feb 5, 2008, 7:40 GMT

Tel Aviv - Israeli soldiers shot dead two Hamas militants during a military incursion in the southern Gaza Strip early Tuesday, Voice of Palestine Radio reported.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said an army force was operating near the border fence on the outskirts of Rafah town and opened fire when two Palestinians approached the force in a 'suspicious manner.'

Gaza militants meanwhile launched two more rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot, hitting a factory and a container.

Thousands of police, meanwhile, were deployed in shopping malls, at bus stations and other crowded areas throughout Israel Tuesday, a day after the first Palestinian suicide bombing in the country in a year.

Police also set up roadblocks at city entrances, after raising the status of alert to level C, the second highest.

A 73-year-old Israeli woman was killed when one suicide bomber blew himself up in a semi-enclosed shopping mall in the southern town of Dimona.

Israeli police later shot dead a second would-be suicide bomber lying among the injured as he tried to reach for his detonator.

Different Palestinian militant factions claimed responsibility for the attack.

Israel's Channel 10 television noted that the videos released of the two suicide bombers in Gaza did not match the face and posture of one of the attackers filmed at the scene from close up - sparking fears more bombers may have crossed into Israel, possibly via Gaza's breached border with Egypt.

Police were still investigating which route the two attackers used to infiltrate Israel and whether they had came from Gaza or the West Bank, Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Israel submitted a letter protesting the bombing to the United Nations, saying that it reserves the right to respond, Israel Radio said.