Israeli soldiers shot dead four Palestinians on Wednesday, hours after Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat agreed to hold cease-fire talks, Palestinian officials said. The governor of Palestinian-ruled Nablus, Mahmoud Aloul, said three civilians were killed in the early hours of Wednesday when they tried to rescue a gunman who was shot and wounded in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops near the West Bank city. "When three other Palestinians...came to pick up the injured gunman, they were shot at and killed immediately," Aloul said.
A Palestinian security source said three bodies were found at dawn in an olive grove near the village of Beit Iba and that a fourth body, apparently that of the gunman they tried to rescue, was in the hands of the Israeli army. Four other Palestinians were wounded in the incident, the source said.
The army had no immediate comment. Israel Radio, citing military sources, said soldiers had ambushed a group of Palestinians believed to be planting a bomb. Bureau Report