TEL AVIV, May 22 (RIA Novosti) - Israeli troops killed two Palestinian militants as they tried to plant explosives near the Gaza-Israeli border, an army spokesman said on Friday.

"The militants, who carried an explosive device, two AK-47 assault rifles, hand grenades and tactical vests, were killed," the spokesman said.

The militants died in a shootout near one of the border checkpoints, used for transporting humanitarian aid to the impoverished Gaza Strip.

Apart from random rocket launches from the Palestinian territories on Israel and Israel strikes on alleged militants, the incident disturbed the relative peace in the region since the suspension by Tel Aviv of military operations in the Gaza Strip in mid-January.

Talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, launched after a peace conference hosted by then U.S. president George Bush in November 2007, stalled following the start of the Israeli offensive on Gaza in December which left 1,300 Palestinians dead and 5,000 others injured.