The armed wing of the Palestinian Liberation Front said on Saturday that an Israeli soldier being held captive by the group in Gaza had been killed in an Israeli air strike that had also wounded some of his captors.

In an audio speech broadcast by Al Araby television, a spokesperson for the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades group said the air strike took place following a failed attempt by Israeli commandos to free the soldier.

The spokesperson gave no details of when the soldier had been taken captive, or where he was being held in Gaza.