A Palestinian attempting a resistance car bombing against an Israeli occupation army post was killed in the Gaza Strip Wednesday as resistance groups vowed to avenge the deaths of two of their commanders in the West Bank. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claimed responsibility for the attack in Gaza, which raised the specter of more violence on the eve of a pre-election leadership ballot in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party.

The explosion came amid vows of revenge by the resistance groups Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades for the killings of two of their commanders Tuesday night in what witnesses said was an Israeli missile strike in the Jenin refugee camp.

In nearby Nablus, a town crier calling residents to morning prayer was shot dead by Israeli occupation troops occupying the Palestinian-ruled city, witnesses said.

Sharon's tough military policies against the Palestinians have won broad support within the rightist party, widening his lead in the opinion polls over his Likud challenger, Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu .

Early Wednesday, a resistance man died when his bomb-laden car blew up just before it reached an Israeli post in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation army and Palestinian witnesses said.

The witnesses said the driver sped past a Palestinian checkpoint on the way to the Erez border crossing with Israel, and Israeli occupation troops guarding the District Coordinating Office (DCO) there fired at him.

The car blew up just past the DCO gates but before reaching the Israeli post, setting fire to Palestinian security liaison buildings which have been unmanned since Israel evicted the staff last September. No other casualties were reported.

"The attack comes in response to the continuous crimes of the occupation against our people," the PFLP, a Marxist group violently opposed to Israel's existence, said in a statement.

Just hours earlier, Ala'a Sabbagh of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Imad Nasharti of the Islamic resistance group Hamas were killed in an explosion in Jenin in the northern West Bank.

Both men, senior area commanders in their respective groups, had been wanted by Israeli security occupation forces for months.

Palestinian officials called it an Israeli "assassination." Such Israeli strikes have often drawn deadly revenge attacks. Some 2,000 mourners marched in the men's funerals, calling on resistance groups to retaliate.

WITNESSES SAY AIRCRAFT FIRED MISSILE

Witnesses in the camp told Reuters they had seen an Israeli aircraft fire a missile at Sabbagh's and Nasharti's hideout. The body of one of the men was torn apart in the explosion.

The Israeli occupation army declined official comment and an occupation army source told Reuters: "It wasn't the Israel Defense forces."

But a senior Israeli security source said this did not rule out the possibility that a non-military Israeli security service such as Shin Bet could have been behind the blast.

"Israel must be held accountable for its crimes. Our people will respond to these attacks at a suitable time and in a suitable way," senior Hamas official Ismail Abu Shanab said.

Israeli occupation forces have killed dozens of senior resistance men in operations that Palestinians have branded state-sponsored assassinations, and that many countries have condemned.

Israel calls the strikes self-defense in the face of resistance bombings in which almost 300 of its citizens have died. The last major bombing, in Jerusalem last Thursday, killed 11 Israelis.

Sharon has been juggling conflicting pressures to look tough before Israel's Jan. 28 general election while avoiding an escalation in the conflict with the Palestinians that could harm U.S. efforts to win Arab support for possible war on Iraq.

Despite continuing violence, polls show Sharon with a commanding lead over Netanyahu in Thursday's Likud ballot. Sharon is also favored to beat dovish Labor Party rival Amram Mitzna in the national election.

Palestinian witnesses in Askar, a refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus, said occupation soldiers shot dead a 24-year-old man waking up residents for prayers marking the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The occupation army had no immediate comment on the incident.

At least 1,681 Palestinians and 662 Israelis have died in the Palestinian uprising, which erupted in September 2000.

PHOTO CAPTION

An undated handout photo shows Palestinian resistance man commander Ala'a Sabbagh of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, who was killed November 26, 2002, in the West Bank town of Jenin. Two Palestinian resistance commanders were killed in Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank in what witnesses said was an Israeli missile strike. The occupation army declined comment on the Jenin incident. (Reuters - Handout)