(Adds Gaza shooting)

By Mamoun Wazwaz

HEBRON, West Bank, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Palestinian militants killed two off-duty Israeli soldiers who were hiking on Friday near the West Bank city of Hebron, in a clash that left two of the gunmen dead, Israeli and Palestinian security sources said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said Palestinian gunmen opened fire at the soldiers who live in a nearby Jewish settlement and were on leave at the time of the incident. The Israelis shot back at the gunmen, the spokeswoman said.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the shooting. Israel has recently killed several of the group's militants in the Gaza Strip, including some senior commanders.

The group had threatened to retaliate for the Gaza attacks, saying the Israeli actions would "not go unpunished".

A splinter group of the al Aqsa Martrys' Brigades in the Gaza Strip also claimed responsibility for the Hebron shooting. West Bank leaders of the militant group, which is part of President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, denied any role.

An Israeli police spokesman called Friday's shooting a "terrorist attack" and said police and the army had searched the area for the attackers.

Hours earlier, Israeli troops near the West Bank city of Ramallah killed a Palestinian security guard who worked for President Abbas's chief negotiator with Israel, the army and Palestinian security sources said.

Israel has called on Abbas to meet his obligations under a 2003 "road map" peace plan to rein in militants in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas Islamists.

The Palestinians say they are meeting their obligations by launching a security clampdown in the West Bank.

Palestinian Foreign and Information Minister Riyad al-Malki said in response to the attack that "as we condemn all Israeli assassination operations ... in Gaza and West Bank, we cannot accept such operations carried out by armed groups".

He said the aim of the group that carried out the attack was to disrupt peace talks and the Palestinian security plan, and promised "to take harsh measures" against them.

Israel has yet to meet its own road map obligations to freeze settlement construction.

The Israeli army on Thursday killed five Islamic Jihad militants in the Gaza Strip.

In internal violence in Gaza on Friday, two Hamas militants were wounded in an attack on a security position, the Islamist group and medical staff said. Hamas said four suspects had been arrested, but did not identify them.

Fatah said more than 40 of its members were arrested in Gaza by Hamas on Friday, raising tensions between the rival groups ahead of Fatah's planned anniversary celebration next week.

Hamas, which seized control of the coastal territory in June, confirmed 20 rival Fatah members had been arrested for holding an "illegal gathering."

(Additional reporting by Haitham Tamimi and Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem, Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah, and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

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