BAGHDAD: An Iraqi soldier opened fire on a US military team on Saturday, killing two American soldiers and wounding three, the US military said, in

SAFA (West Bank): Two Palestinians were wounded in clashes on Saturday with armed Jewish settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinianmedical sources said. Witnesses said the fighting erupted in the village of Safa between Palestinians and settlers from the nearby Bat Ayin settlement where an Israeli youth was killed last month. On April 2, an axe-wielding Palestinian man rampaged through Bat Ayin near Bethlehem, killing a 16-year-old Israeli boy and wounding a seven-year-old. The Israeli army intervened to stop today's fighting, the witnesses said, adding that two Palestinians among a group throwing rocks at soldiers and settlers were wounded by gunfire. An Israeli military spokesman told AFP the army "prevented Bat Ayin residents from entering the village, and that these people opened fire" at the Palestinians. He added that "two soldiers on leave who were with the Bat Ayin residents were arrested" by Israeli soldiers and border guards. "The army will respond to provocations, no matter where they come from," the spokesman said, adding that after the shooting the stone-throwing protesters were "dispersed by security forces using anti-riot methods." Twelve Palestinians were wounded in clashes in Safa on April 8, after Bat Ayin residents went on the rampage in the village.