Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian mainstream Fatah movement, claimed responsibility on Thursday for kidnapping and killing two Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

A spokesman of the group identified himself as Abu Khaled Hejazi told reporters that his group militants seized and killed two stray Israeli soldiers who entered the area of Nablus by mistake.

There has been no confirmation from the Israeli army, however, an army spokesman earlier told Israel Radio that the Israeli army forces determined not to leave the area of Nablus until two missing soldiers were found.

Local Palestinian residents said dozens of Israeli armored vehicles, jeeps, soldiers and sniffing dogs covered by Apache helicopters and F16 warplanes were storming into the main streets of Nablus, apparently searching for the two missing soldiers.

The Israeli soldiers searched into houses amid intense gunfire and explosions, they added.

According to Palestinian medical sources, at least two residents were injured during the raid.

Later on Thursday, another spokesman of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades who identified himself as Abu Thaer said the two Israeli soldiers had been kidnapped, but they were not killed.

Abu Thaer told reporters in Gaza that his group militants found the two soldiers alive, kidnapped them and took them to an unknown place in the besieged city of Nablus.

He claimed that the two soldiers would only be released after some of their demands are met.

Releasing all the Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails, returning the remains of Palestinians killed by Israel, ending closure on the territories and removing all Israeli army roadblocks are our demands, said Abu Thaer.

He also warned that the two soldiers would be immediately executed if the Israeli side doesn't make response to their conditions.

Source: Xinhua