BETHLEHEM, Jan 30: Israel withdrew from Bethlehem on Friday after troops rolled into the biblical city and dynamited the home of a suicide bomber who killed 10 people the previous day.

The soldiers, who encountered no opposition when they moved into the centre of the West Bank town in the early hours, pulled out in the mid-morning. They maintained a brief presence in the adjoining Ayda refugee camp, where they blew up the family home of policeman Ali Munir Yussef Jihar in the wake of his Thursday suicide attack close to the official residence of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Ten other nearby buildings were damaged by the demolition of the house, which was home to 13 family members. After the pullback, Palestinian security services returned to their headquarters in the town and policemen returned to street patrols.

Israeli sources said some arrests had been made after troops entered the town in a column of armoured vehicles Two Palestinian teenagers were earlier shot dead by Israeli troops near Gaza City, while a third militant was gunned down in the southern West Bank.

Sources at Gaza City's Al Shifa hospital said two Palestinian teenagers had been killed in the incident near the settlement of Dugit. An Israeli military source said troops had opened fire at a group of armed men who were approaching the settlement in northern Gaza.

A wanted 45-year-old Palestinian militant was also shot dead by Israeli soldiers in a gunfight in the Al Khalil region of the southern West Bank, sources on both sides said.

HAMAS: The spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, warned on Friday that the movement plans to kidnap Israeli soldiers to swap for Palestinian prisoners held by the Jewish state.

"The Ezzedine al Qassam Brigades (Hamas's armed wing) have planned, are planning and will continue to plan until they succeed," Sheikh Yassin told reporters when asked whether his movement planned to follow the example of Hezbollah and kidnap soldiers.-AFP