The assailants, who are believed to be Palestinians, staged at least three attacks against a bus, a military vehicle and a civilian car on two desert roads leading to the southern Red Sea resort town of Eilat.
Medical sources told AFP seven Israelis had been killed in the attacks, all of whom died in an incident which took place along route 90, a desert highway which runs parallel to the Jordan border.
Security sources said the attackers had fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a vehicle, while unconfirmed media reports also spoke of mortars fired at cars along the road.
Four people died n one car while the others were killed in the same area, they said.
The sources said "at least six terrorists had been killed" by troops who engaged in running gunbattles with the attackers, while they were "trying to verify the death of a seventh."
Israeli media reports quoting military sources all put the number at seven dead.
Israeli officials have said the perpetrators all came from the Gaza Strip, where the ruling Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas denied any involvement.
A senior source said they had entered Israeli via the Sinai peninsula where Egyptian troops recently began a massive operation to root out militants based there. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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