Two Palestinians were killed and 30 others wounded in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday, witnesses and medical sources said.

The wounded were taken to the main hospital in Ramallah by Palestinian ambulances, said medical sources.

Meanwhile, witnesses said an Israeli soldier was also wounded in the clashes. There is no confirmation from the Israeli army yet.

The witnesses also said that the Israeli troops arrested five Palestinian militants, who were believed to be members of the ruling Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), the Islamic Jihad ( Holy War) and the Fatah movement now led by President Mahmoud Abbas.

The clashes came after a group of undercover Israeli soldiers surrounded a building in central Ramallah, where a Palestinian militant wanted by Israel for alleged involvement in anti-Israel attacks was hiding, said the witnesses.

Palestinian militants in Ramallah then rushed to the building and clashed with the Israeli soldiers and about a dozen Israeli military vehicles also came to the scene, the witnesses added.

Palestinian security sources said that the Israeli army raided Ramallah in an effort to arrest Mohamed al-Shoubaki, a member of the Islamic Jihad (Holy War).

Al-Shoubaki, Jihad leader in the northern West Bank town of Qalqilia, was among the five Palestinians arrested by Israeli troops, said the Palestinian security sources.

Palestinian President Abbas was in the city, where the headquarters of the Palestinian National Authority is located, when the clashes broke out.

Source: Xinhua