Israeli soldiers killed four armed Palestinian militants during fierce gun battles in the West Bank city of Nablus early Thursday, Palestinian sources said.

Palestinian medics said initially that five Palestinian gunmen were killed in the fighting, but later reduced the toll by one.

The fighting in Nablus was some of the fiercest in weeks in the West Bank, where Israeli forces encircle most major Palestinian towns and cities.

Three gunmen were killed in fighting in the city's Old Quarter overnight and the fourth, a member of the militant Islamic Jihad group, was shot dead while trying to plant a bomb near Israeli forces, the medics and security sources said.

Israeli paratroopers have been operating in Nablus's ancient Casbah and the nearby Balata refugee camp for the past two days after receiving intelligence information that militants were planning suicide bombings, an army commander told Army Radio.

Israeli radio stations said the troops were focusing on a cell of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.

The Israeli army confirmed that four Palestinian gunmen were killed in fighting in Nablus.

"The Israeli forces identified an armed man on a rooftop. Firing erupted. Two more armed men joined the fighting. The troops returned fire. The three were killed," an army spokesman said. He said three automatic rifles were found with the gunmen.

An armed Islamic Jihad member was shot dead when he tried to plant a bomb hidden in a plastic bag in an alley where soldiers were operating, the army and Palestinian sources said.

A military commander in Nablus identified only as Lieutenant Colonel Avi said troops also captured a would-be suicide bomber who was apparently planning to head toward Israel Thursday.

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