HIGHLIGHTS: 4 of The Wounded Palestinians of the Same Family||Palestinian Fighters Wound Three Israeli Occupation Soldiers||Israelis Claim Tanks Fired No Shells During the Incursion||STORY: Eight Palestinian civilians and three Israeli soldiers were wounded during an Israeli raid on the West Bank city of Tulkarm Friday. An Israeli army spokesman said three soldiers had been wounded during the incursion into Tulkarm.

Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses said eight civilians were wounded, including four from one family hit by shrapnel from a tank shell fired at a building in a refugee camp on the edge of Tulkarm. One was in critical condition.

The militant Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said in a statement its fighters had ambushed troops on the edge of the Tulkarm refugee camp, inflicting several casualties.

It said the ambush was revenge for Israel's killing of one of its commanders and two fighters in a missile strike on the Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus this week.

Israeli helicopter gunships were hovering over the camp and firing machine guns at ground targets.

The Israeli army spokesman said there was a military operation under way in Tulkarm proper, but denied any action in the refugee camp and said he had no knowledge of tank fire.

Israel says Tulkarm has been a staging point for many suicide attacks, especially those carried out by the Brigades, linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.

Israeli occupation forces have repeatedly raided Tulkarm since they pulled back from Palestinian cities reoccupied during a month-long military onslaught in the West Bank in April.

Palestinian bombers have struck four times in Israel this week, after a two-week lull in such attacks.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Israeli.occupation soldier gets on top his armored personnel carrier outside Tulkarem before they enter the Tulkarem refugee camp, Friday May 24, 2002. Palestinian militiamen opened fire on Israeli occupation soldiers atop an armored personnel carrier after they entered the Tulkarem refugee camp injuring at least two soldiers. Israeli occupation troops returned fire and four Palestinians including a woman and a 4-year-old girl were wounded. (AP Photo/Urie