GAZA, Jan 14 (Reuters) - An Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a car carrying Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the Israeli Army said and local medical staff said two militants were killed in the attack.

An Israeli Army spokesman said the air strike was carried in cooperation with the Shin Bet undercover internal security service on a car known to be carrying two gunmen.

"The strike was carried out by the Israel Defence Forces in cooperation with the Shin Bet. One of the gunmen was responsible for firing rockets into Israel and another was involved in actions against Israelis," the spokesman said.

A third man was critically wounded by the missile, which exploded near the home of the Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, Palestinian hospital officials said.

One of the dead gunmen was a senior member of the Army of Islam militant group, they said. He was identified as Maher al-Mabhouh, the Army of Islam's commander in Gaza City.

The same group was involved in the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in Gaza in June 2006 and the kidnapping of BBC journalist Alan Johnston last year.

Shalit is still being held, Johnston was released last year by his captors after being held for several months.

The second dead man was identified as Nidal al-Amoudi of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction.

The Israeli army spokesman gave the same names for the dead.

The Army of Islam's spokesman Ahmed al-Mazloun, known as Khattab al-Maqdiffi, was critically wounded, the hospital officials said.

Witnesses said the vehicle in which the gunmen were travelling was destroyed by the missile not far from Haniyeh's house in the Shati refugee camp near the Gaza City shoreline.

Israel frequently targets militants in air and ground attacks in efforts to halt rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip into towns inside the Jewish state. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)

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